The Blog of vox

Absinthe is Legal in the US
Federal Ban Lifted for Sale and Imports
Source
© Lisbeth Cheever-Gessaman

Dec 6, 2007
After nearly a century, absinthe is legalized in the United States once again.

The Green Fairy. La Fee Verte. The Emerald Muse.

These are but a few of the sobriquets given to the worlds most controversial drink - Absinthe. Beloved by mystics, visionaries and artists alike, absinthe was initally banned in 1905 after a demonizing campaign for its prohibition; and now after nearly a hundred years, the United States has indeed lifted the ban on its sale.

No, really.

The first two absinthes to be allowed in the US market were Lucid and Kubler, each utilizing the more historical formula of high alcohol content (typically 128 proof or more) and low amounts of thujone.

The thujone in absinthe, initially at the heart of its eventual downfall, remains a controversial aspect. Thujone, a considerably potent toxin, is one of the key properties of wormwood and lethal in high doses. However distillers such as Lucid have spent painstaking hours analyzing the content of bottles of historical absinthe.

The conclusion?

That thujone itself was present only in the smallest amounts and that it's the combination of Wormwood along with other herbs such as hyssop and calamus which create the drink's notable characteristic of mystically lucid clarity. After much legal wrangling demonstrating this data to the FDA, the government overturned the ban with set stipulations that the thujone would remain at a low 10 parts per million.

Absinthe comes at a price - nearly $75.00 a bottle and up at the time of this writing. However, it's an amazing piece of history which the more bohemian among us are passionately celebrating.

For such an incredibly historical and dare I say, exciting event, news coverage is surprisingly scant. A sampling of media links however can be found here:

NY Times Coverage