Legalise Absinthe

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13159863

I have only ever tried "the good stuff" once, but it was pretty awesome. The 70% stuff you can buy in Spain without the wormwood is also pretty trippy, but thats just more to do with the alcohol content rather than the hallucinogenic effects.

I went through a phase of pre-clubbing drinks of vodka & absinthe & red-bull (which we codenamed VARB) - it certainly did the trick...!

There has never been enough wormwood in absinthe to have a hallucinogenic effect. It's all a big green marketing myth. Still, no reason to keep it illegal just because it's a nasty-tasting affectation for the gullible.

what iain said

the ritual is p. cool though, i must admit. the whole sugar cube and spoon and pouring it over and whatnot, very "dying of consumption and ennui in paris, 1883." not really worth the hyper-inflated price though.

didn't even know it was illegal !?

can still get it in some bars/ off licenses down here.. but obviously it's not the proper old skool send-you-mad-and-blind stuff that Van Gough and Picasso, etc. would've drank.

  On 5/4/2011 at 3:20 PM, sirch said:

didn't even know it was illegal !?

can still get it in some bars/ off licenses down here.. but obviously it's not the proper old skool send-you-mad-and-blind stuff that Van Gough and Picasso, etc. would've drank.

Eh sure, it is never going to be 1:1 like the original, although for enthusiasts I think vintages get unearthed every now and then and auctioned or otherwise circulated. That said there is one hell of a buyer's choice of a market out there and several varieties that at least claim to have gone to the effort of recreating the recipes of ~1900. According to wikipedia "As of February 2008, nearly 200 brands of absinthe were being produced in a dozen countries, most notably in France, Switzerland, Spain, and the Czech Republic."

There are many gimmicky, overly commercial, high-proof alcohols coloured green and flavoured licorice and marketed as absinthe but there's also some great stuff out there if you take some time and research what you're after and what you're drinking.

You can get authentic wormwood/thujone absinthe in the States now, it's just hard to find any of the good stuff.

Believe it or not, Marylyn Manson's Mansinthe (I know, I know , but he had the sense to go to a good Swiss distiller ) is pretty decent for introductory "real" absinthe, if you can get over the name. It's not going to go over well with connoisseurs who pay $400 a bottle, but it's within reach of most people.

  On 5/4/2011 at 3:20 PM, sirch said:

the proper old skool send-you-mad-and-blind stuff that Van Gough and Picasso, etc. would've drank.

Lead paint?

Absinthe is awful vile stuff. The only reason you are seeing green fairies is that you are suffering from alcohol poisoning.

  On 5/4/2011 at 4:24 PM, baph said:

Marylyn Manson's Mansinthe

holy lol

Dig the label art tho.

I've only had the stuff once (not the Manson stuff) at a festival a few years ago. Some guys in the tent next to us found a full bottle on the floor and we shared it round a terrible BBQ they were having. Disgusting stuff.

Ye Ive had it before.

Any hallucinogenic effects were purely because I was so hammered.

This was the stuff I picked up in Ibiza a few years ago, it did us well

Some guy has done a buyers guide website - http://www.feeverte.net/guide/

  Quote

Wild Bill Turkey scores Mari Mayans 70, 63 out of 100

There's a lot of terrible, vomit-tasting absinthe and some really good-tasting absinthe. You know, like everything else in the world. The problem is most of what is readily available is vomit-tasting stuff trying to cash in on the perceived coolness of absinthe.

If you're chugging absinthe at 60-whatever % abv you pretty much deserve to lose your stomach lining with the ensuing retching.

legalise abzinthe

Ab-synth?

Not a big absinthe fan.

But it's good if you don't want to remember what you did the night before.

asdf

Absinthe is legal in most forms inside the US as well. As long as the Thujone levels are within a certain limit(which, contrary to popular belief, has no high or hullicinatory effect whatsoever.)

my friend brought me a bottle back from isreal a few years ago. i split it with two friends while camping in the woods once and had an amazing time. we had a lot of drinks before and after, but i still felt completely clearheaded and just walked around and enjoyed the trees. later on my friend got totally belligerent and went wandering off into the night to look for wolves and ended up getting horribly lost.

anyway, i am in favor of legalizing it in completion.

  On 5/5/2011 at 3:22 AM, uptown devil said:

later on my friend got totally belligerent and went wandering off into the night to look for wolves and ended up getting horribly lost.

That's pretty metal.

  On 5/5/2011 at 12:29 AM, Dropp said:

Not a big absinthe fan.

 

But it's good if you don't want to remember what you did the night before.

no matter how drunk i've been or what i've taken i always remember the night before.

so either i'm a freak of nature or everybody is the same but does more stupid things that they're more ashamed of,

and then pretend to forget it all.

good wine is better than absinthe anyday anyways....... if you have the stomache for (lots of) it :)

  On 5/5/2011 at 4:10 AM, baph said:

  On 5/5/2011 at 3:22 AM, uptown devil said:

later on my friend got totally belligerent and went wandering off into the night to look for wolves and ended up getting horribly lost.

 

That's pretty metal.

black metal.. also known as blacked out metal

ambien made me forget the night before. Never any drink

1. people should be able to ingest whatever they so desire

2. im not terribly eager to follow van gogh's path of going nuts, cutting off his own ear, and dying while staring out a claustrophobic hostel window

3. it's a nice ritual but i'd feel feel dirtily trendy performing it

  On 5/5/2011 at 7:37 AM, hahathhat said:

1. people should be able to ingest whatever they so desire

 

2. im not terribly eager to follow van gogh's path of going nuts, cutting off his own ear, and dying while staring out a claustrophobic hostel window

 

3. it's a nice ritual but i'd feel feel dirtily trendy performing it

it might do you some good.......... ;)

there's nothing "trendy" about absinthe, really. the opposite infact.

most trendy people these days have the same opinion as you! they won't touch it.

most trendy people are all too safe these days. scared of doing anything naughty.

  On 5/5/2011 at 4:30 AM, sirch said:

  On 5/5/2011 at 12:29 AM, Dropp said:

Not a big absinthe fan.

 

But it's good if you don't want to remember what you did the night before.

 

no matter how drunk i've been or what i've taken i always remember the night before.

so either i'm a freak of nature or everybody is the same but does more stupid things that they're more ashamed of,

and then pretend to forget it all.

 

good wine is better than absinthe anyday anyways....... if you have the stomache for (lots of) it :)

I dunno man. It usually only happens with spirits, you dont seem like a spirit man to me.

Its only happened once or twice to me and it wasnt the whole night, it was bits of the night. But those bits were usually followed by me passing out or puking. You have to get really really drunk to forget things.