In the early 1900s many European countries banned the strong alcoholic drink Absinthe, United States banned Absinthe in 1912.
Absinthe never was as popular in the United States as it had become in European countries just like France and Switzerland, but there were areas of the US absintheliquor, just like the French portion of New Orleans, where Absinthe was served in Absinthe bars.
Absinthe is a liquor made from herbs such as wormwood, aniseed and fennel. It's often green, hence its nickname the Green Fairy, and features an anise taste.
Absinthe is surely an intriguing concoction or recipe of herbs that act as a stimulant and alcohol and other herbs that act as a sedative. It is the essential oils on the herbs that can cause Absinthe to louche, go cloudy, when water is added.
Wormwood, Artimesia Absinthium, has a chemical called thujone which is said to be much like THC in the drug cannabis, to be psychoactive and to cause psychedelic effects.
Absinthe United States and also the ban
the 1900s there was a powerful prohibition movement in France and this movement used the truth that Absinthe was linked to the Bohemian culture of Montmartre - with its writers, artists and the courtesans and loose morals of establishments just like the Moulin Rouge, and also the allegation that an Absinthe drinker murdered his family, to dispute for a prohibition on Absinthe. They claimed that Absinthe would be France's ruin, that Absinthe was a drug and intoxicant that will drive everyone to insanity!
The United States followed France's example and restricted Absinthe and drinks that contains thujone in 1912. It became illegal, a crime, to buy or sell Absinthe in the USA. Americans either were required to concoct their particular homemade recipes or travel to countries like the Czech Republic, where Absinthe was still legal, to savor the Green Fairy.
Many US legal experts believe that Absinthe was not ever banned in the US and that if you look very carefully in the law and ordinance you will find that only drinks that contain over 10mg of thujone were prohibited. However, US Customs and police would not allow any Absinthe shipped from abroad to enter the US, simply thujone free Absinthe substitutes were allowed.
Absinthe United States 2007
Ted Breaux, a native of New Orleans, runs a distillery in Saumur France. He has used vintage bottles of pre-ban Absinthe to investigate Absinthe recipes also to create his personal classic pre-ban style Absinthe - the Jade collection.
Breaux was amazed to uncover that the vintage Absinthe, in contrast to belief, actually only covered very minute quantities of thujone - inadequate to harm anyone. He became driven to present an Absinthe drink which he could ship to his birthplace, the US. His dream would be to once again see Absinthe being used in bars in New Orleans.
Breaux and lawyer Gared Gurfein, had many meetings with the Alcohol, Tobacco, Tax and Trade Bureau with regards to the thujone content of Breaux's Absinthe recipe. They found that actually no law needed to be changed!
Breaux's dream grew to become reality in 2007 when his brand Lucid managed to be shipped from his distillery in France to the US. Lucid is based on vintage recipes and possesses real wormwood, unlike false Absinthes. Now, in 2008, a product called Green Moon and two Absinthes from Kubler are all capable of being traded in inside the US.
Absinthe United States - Several Americans at the moment are enjoying their first taste of true legal Absinthe, perhaps there'll be an Absinthe revival.
