approved on a case by case scenario by the Feds. Banned since 1910 due to unproved health dangers from
the substance thujone, found in wormwood, an ingredient in absinthe, it has been the subject of
controversy for centuries. Many folk tales and rites and rituals have grown around it and its supposedly
hallucinogenic properties.
Several companies have been striving to recreate authentic versions similar to those made in the 1800s,
many with low enough thujone levels to pass U.S. inspection. The first of these to do so is Lucid,
imported from France by New York-based Viridian Spirits. Others will be following soon.
Oscar Wilde describes what happens to you when you drink absinthe:
“After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they
are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.”
