A Flowery Song

Background: Distilled in Paris based on a traditional recipe, but obviously (and heavily) artificially coloured.

Nose: Sharply spiritous, with a sugary edge and lots of anise.

Taste: Sharp, almost piny resinous edge, a bit woodsy, with an uninteresting anise flavour. Very rough aftertaste.

Overall: Could be worse, but definitely not one I’ll be buying again.

Background: The first domestically produced absinthe available in the US since Prohibition. Produced at St. George Spirits in Alameda, California from a brandy base, its slightly nontraditional recipe includes meadowsweet, mint, lemon balm, basil, tarragon, and stinging nettles in addition to the more traditional wormwood, star anise, fennel, and hyssop.

Appearance: Beautiful olive drab colour, louches to a pale green.

Nose: Complex herbal presence dominated by flowery fennel and anise.

Taste: Sweet, oily fennel hits first, followed by mint and anise. The complex herbal character comes through in the middle accompanied by a light wormwood bitterness that sticks around into the finish.

Overall: This is really, really good. The unique herbal bill creates wonderful complexity and depth of flavour, while remaining balanced and tasty.

Background: Similar to the regular Un Emile 68, this absinthe adds resinous pine buds to the mix of herbs.

Nose: Harsh and spiritous. Hints of wormwood, and the normal anise scent is upstaged by a sweet resinous pine odour.

Taste: Oily green anise and pine on the front, strong wormwood influence in the finish.

(Drip the water in.)

Starts as a pale yellow, barely louches at all.

Nose: Pine fades into the background, wormwood moves up. Anise level is about the same.

Taste: Follows the nose. The wormwood taste provides a nice solid background for the pine and anise, and there are some other vague herbal influences.

Overall: Decent. The pine buds add an interesting flavour dimension which is fairly well integrated with the other components.

Background: Lucid was the first absinthe made legally available in the US since 1912. Availability is still fairly limited, but for those who can't find it at their local watering hole there are several retailers with an online presence that stock it.

This spirit is crafted at the Combier distillery in France by T.A. Breaux, the man behind the popular Jade absinthes. Like Jade, Lucid follows a traditional manufacturing process. The flavouring herbs, which include fennel, green anise, and Artemisia absinthium, are macerated in neutral spirits (beet, if you were wondering) which is then redistilled. The resulting liquid is strongly flavoured but clear. In order to achieve the desired colour a secret mixture of herbs is steeped in the spirit, imparting a green tint.

Nose: Sweet, fruity, and herbal. Medium anise presence, and some vegetal wormwood is there too.

Taste: Complex herbal flavour dominated by sweet anise. Long, oily finish.

(Absinthe is quite difficult to taste straight, designed as it is for dilution. So we dilute.)

Nice louche action. Colour goes from a yellow-tinged pale green to an attractive off-white.

Nose: More herbal notes. Pepper, mint, coriander, and lemongrass.

Taste: Huge herbal presence, with spicy pepper and fennel notes. The anise is a bit more in the background than is perhaps normal, but it's definitely a large component. The slightest hint of bitterness, accompanied by a lovely wormwood character. The wormwood slowly drops away as the drink trails off into a long, oily fennel finish.

Overall: Nice balance and a wonderfully multidimensional herbal component. It's good. Quite good, in fact.

Background: Distilled by Emile Pernot, this verte absinthe is produced to a traditional 19th century recipe.

Nose: Strong spiritous nose, with a smooth fruity anise scent and hints of wormwood.

Taste: Oily green anise on the front, leading into a smooth middle with fennel and a strong wormwood tang.

(I'm stupidly following my normal tasting procedure, so the above was undiluted. Let's treat this thing properly, shall we?)

Pale yellowish-green to start. The unimpressive louche results in a lemonade colour.

Nose: Wormwood dominates, with some interesting nutty notes. Anise is still coming through in the high notes, of course. Not overly complicated, with a nice herbal presence.

Taste: Pretty much follows the nose. Sweet fennel and anise trip lightly on the tongue, with a pleasant wormwood background. Nice thick mouthfeel, slightly drying finish that lingers for a few moments.

Overall: Pleasantly simple. Nothing staggering, just a decently made absinthe for decent folks.

I wrote a while back that Lucid Absinthe had been approved for sale in the US, but there were no details available on precisely why it had been approved, and what the actual thujone content of the product is. More information has come to light, which includes good news for all you American lovers of absinthe.

Due to some successful lobbying on the part of the distributor, “thujone free” has been administratively redefined from the prior standard of <1ppm to a much higher <10ppm in the finished product. Many traditionally made absinthes fall within this range; though no specific products other than Lucid have been announced, the word on the street is that two others have gone through the approval process successfully.

Lucid Absinthe

Will you look at that; An absinthe which has been approved for sale in the US. They're a bit coy about whether it actually contains thujone: “Lucid has been tested and it meets US and EU standards for content.” If I remember my FDA regs properly, any product intended for human consumption and made from wormwood has to be thujone free (well, not exactly–even in thujone free products there can be a measurable amount present), so I'm guessing the manufacturer is just trying not to scare off anyone that believes thujone to be important.

Encouraging rumblings have been heard from people that have had the opportunity to sample the product.

Regardless, this will be interesting to watch, since I've heard several people argue that there's no actual market for absinthe in the US, and the people who currently buy it only do so because it's illegal.

Absinthe is a very evocative drink. Mention it to a random person and they might think of a hallucination-ridden poet living in decadence on a Parisian street and cutting his ear off after downing a bottle of flaming spirit, or a Manson fan in a black baby-doll who enjoys cutting and pretends to be a vampire while hanging out at Johnny Depp's club.

For those romantics among you, I have sad news: absinthe is not hallucinogenic. The much-overhyped “epidemic” of absinthism that caused it to be banned owed more to the extremely high alcohol content (you try acting normally after drinking a bottle of anything that’s more than 50% ABV) and the common use of adulterants such as methanol in cheaper brands. Due to recognition of this fact, it is now possible to manufacture and/or sell authentic absinthe in many countries, including Spain, Switzerland, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. France is something of a special case; even though many of the most popular brands are made there, it is illegal to sell anything under the name “absinthe”, and it must instead be labeled “wormwood-based spirits”, which results in separate labeling for domestic sales of French absinthes.

Now, a few tips for any would-be absintheurs: If you want to stay completely legal while still getting most of the experience, go with a pastis. After absinthe was banned, the major manufacturers reformulated their drink, lowering the alcohol content, adding sugar, and removing the wormwood. Popular spirits in this category include Absente, Herbsaint, and Pernod.

Stay away from anything that claims that you can make absinthe at home; it's either illegal and dangerous (home distillation) or misguided (soaking herbs in vodka does not produce absinthe). Particularly beware of anything that contains wormwood extract, as thujone in high concentrations (which they tend towards) is a convulsive neurotoxin. In the minute doses you get from real absinthe, it's not dangerous; thujone is also found in the herb sage at similar concentrations.

While it's illegal to import or sell absinthe in the US, it is not illegal to own or drink it. If you want to try it and have the dosh, I would recommend buying a bottle from an overseas seller. For example, eAbsinthe.com is a UK based distributor that ships to the US and has guaranteed delivery; if for any reason you don't receive your order, they will refund the full purchase price. Be aware that it's a bit pricy, especially at current exchange rates.

Importation of alcohol is overseen by a Federal agency; you need a license in order to import commercially, and it needs to conform to specific guidelines as to content and labeling (and size of bottle; 700 ml is standard in the UK, but is not an allowed size in the US). Importation for personal use is much more loosely controlled, and in most cases a license is not required, nor do the labeling restrictions apply (unless you plan to give it to someone else as a gift). However, if they really want to get pushy they can confiscate your bottle of scotch, gin, or what have you, since the determination of whether it falls under the personal use exemption is up to them and the guidelines are fairly vague. For this reason, many UK sellers will either refuse to ship to the US or will disclaim any responsibility for your shipment actually arriving. (It's even more fun in Michigan, since we're a control state. Some out-of-state US spirit vendors won't ship here.)

Absinthe is one of the items specifically listed by the US Customs Service as not permissible to bring into the country. However, as possession isn't illegal the highest penalty that can be incurred is confiscation of the shipment. As with other alcohol, while they can confiscate it they rarely choose to do so.

Prior to the recent renaissance of traditional absinthe, a number of Czech absinths (note spelling) became popular. The lack of anise flavour is the chief defining characteristic of these “Bohemian” absinths, which have little in common with real absinthe other than the use of wormwood. Certain brands also like to hype high thujone levels and play up the mystique of its supposed hallucinogenic properties. Personally I find this type of marketing abhorrent, and for this reason alone would urge you to stay away from this drink. If you need a further reason, it is also extremely nasty tasting.

Finally, a word on the proper drinking of absinthe: Traditionally, absinthe is poured into a glass, over which a slotted spoon is placed. The drinker then places a sugar cube on the spoon and drips ice-cold water through it until it is diluted to approximately one-quarter the original strength. The makers of Bohemian absinth decided that this wasn’t impressive enough, and started claiming that you should soak the sugar cube in absinth and set it on fire, then add water to extinguish it. While this might be okay for a Czech absinth, don’t set real absinthe on fire. Remember: burning absinthe makes the baby Jesus cry.