Review: LUCID French Absinthe - Truly Absinthe, Truly Legal

Absinthe has been banned in the United States for the better part of the last century. The ban was due in part to the psycho-active ingredient thujone, the active ingredient in wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) from which absinthe was made as discussed on Absinthe Original's homepage (origninalsbsinthe.com).
According to another web site Absinth.com as well as Wikipedia, under the keyword absinthe, famous absinthe drinkers include Vincent van Gogh, Ernest Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, Aleister Crowley and Arthur Rimbaud gave the beverage a reputation as a bohemian elixir. Wikipedia indicates that absinthe was banned from parts of Europe and the United States in 1915. The fact was that there was so little thujone in commercially produced absinthes that you could not feel anything but the high alcohol content, which is usually between 90 to 150 proof. Absinthe Original's homepage indicates that thujone alone is not responsible for the affect of absinthe. Rather it is a mixture of all of its ingredients, both herbal and its high alcohol content. Absinthe became the scapegoat for the drunken antics of some drinkers in the late 1800's. The Vincent van Gogh ear incident was long blamed on the evils and insanities which accompanied absinthe usage.

The law banning the import and sale of absinthe in the United States actually banned any liquor made with over 10 parts per million (ppm) of thujone. When researcher Ted Breaux and others discovered that almost all absinthe used in the 1800s contained less than 10 ppm thujone, the door was thrown wide open for the resumed importation of absinthe. He produced LUCID which is reviewed here (see Barely Legal: American Absinthe Passes The Taste Test at wired.com).

I have sampled many varieties of absinthe, which is legal in Canada (see Absinthe Classics Canada (absintheclassics.ca) and was happy to finally find it in my local Maryland liquor stores.