Marilyn Manson Launches Own Brand of Absinthe Liquor

Authentic absinthe has been available in the US for about six months.

Two brands are currently on sale here now: Lucid and Kübler, several more will follow soon.

Unlike absinthe substitutes such as Absente, these contain Grand Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), the definitive ingredient of absinthe.

I bought a bottle on-line in the UK.

Cost just under £25.

Haven't tasted it yet though.

Quote: "Authentic absinthe has been available in the US for about six months"

Untrue. Authentic absinthe contains thujone and Lucid absinthe doesn't. The FDA ban thujone and therefore it had to be removed before it was allowed.

Quote: "Unlike absinthe substitutes such as Absente, these contain Grand Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), the definitive ingredient of absinthe"

Lucid and Absente are basically the same thing. Absente uses Artemisia abrotanum (Southern Wormwwod) & Lucid absinthe uses grande wormwood with the thujone REMOVED. They are one and the same in that respect. Absinthe, as drunk by Degas, Hemmingway etc., contained thujone and perhaps at levels of 260mg (according to Dr Niels Arnold of Kansas University)

Lucid is, in fact, absinthe, as it contains Artemisia absinthium. Lucid does not have thujone removed, it just has a low enough concentration to be legal. It turns out that most vintage absinthes contained thujone in small enough quantities that they would, in fact, also be considered legal if submitted for modern testing. Dr. Arnold's estimates have been thoroughly debunked, if you care to do any research.

Hiram-

Your "organization" has been exposed numerous times as the marketing arm of Ted Breaux & Co. Your comment has no merit whatsoever, and should be treated as spam.

There are no real absinthes in the US, and will not be anytime soon.

Real absinthes of the past contained thujone -- but don't take my word for it. Just three days ago, Dr W. Arnold (University of Kansas) noted the following in the Boston Herald:

"Perhaps to raise the titillation for the current product, and to increase sales, they now claim that the "old absinthe" also had very little thujone in it! Supposedly the current drink has very little of several other terpenoids that were part of "old absinthe" because the current producers have missed the importance of (or intentionally avoided) "steam distillation"...

Source: http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1044126&format=comments

Dr Arnold should know his stuff, since it was he who first tested pre-ban absinthes for thujone and other terpenoids. And guess what he found? Pre-ban absinthe sometimes contained up to 260mg/kg of thujone!

At that time, the self-styled "absinthe chemist" Mr. Ted Breaux was still backpacking in Thailand, the country where he later set up his first "absinthe" distillery (no, his PR people are not pushing this message). The "traditional" Made in Thailand :-) absinthe didn't sell much, obviously. Since then, an intense PR campaign has been underway, promoting the deceptive no-thujone message.

The Reason Magazine (reason.com) also recently noted: "Even as (they) emphasize Lucid's negligible thujone content, the drink's manufacturer tries to capitalize on absinthe's reputation as a forbidden potion with the slogan, "Prohibition is finally over!"...

To my knowledge, there are only two absinthes in existence that contain anywhere near pre-ban levels of thujone (100+ mg): King of Spirits Gold and Century Absinthe. Of these two, King of Spirits Gold does not follow the traditional distillation method (it's an oil mix), so we are left with Century Absinthe as the only absinthe that resembles the pre-ban ones.

Neither of the two, nor any other genuine absinthe, will make it to the States anytime soon. For the real deal, you have to travel to Europe or have it shipped over. Yes, possession and importation for personal use is legal.

Hope to have clarified the issue. There is an ongoing debate regarding this among the absinthe community, with many people unhappy about Lucid's marketing tactics. Just Google "lucid absinthe" for more -- skip the official site and the (paid for) press coverage, and you will find plenty of blogs and forums where this is being discussed.

Just my opinion, but... Thujone was singled out as "evil", but this was a bad rap. Absinthe's rapid surge in popularity caused anxiety among the previously unchallenged wine industry. What better way to reclaim your market than to paint the challenger as "evil" and - better yet - have it banned? The same tactic was used, by much the same industry, to produce "Reefer Madness" a little later.

I would tend to dismiss the "Lucid" on the grounds of the cheesy name alone. However, the excellent Swiss Kuebler 53 has indeed turned up on the shelves of liquor stores here in SF. Thujone, as we all know, has nothing to do with the quality of a true Absinthe--taste, on the other hand, certainly does, and the Kuebler products have long been regarded as some of the best contemporary Absinthes available. Grab one when you see it.

look, some old absinthe had a lot more thujone in it and some didn't. Personally, I have never tried absinthe in my life, but I want to get some now that it is legal. Hell, I just found out that you can order the stuff online! (I know, i've been living in a cave) But the point is that Lucid is probably a good drink and it has a COOL name (come on, it's a better name than Mansinthe). the stuff has all the ingredients of the old absinthes and it's about time that it's legal. Maybe they will someday look at Marijuana and be like "previous studies show that pot smoke contains much lower levels of THC" and it will be legal too! In any event, if you buy some Lucid, Mansinthe, or that Kuebler stuff, it's not going to make you trip, but it will be a good drink to try. As for weed, I don't know if its ever going to be legal, but personally I think that if its got some therapeutic effects and you don't smoke the stuff 24/7 then its all gravy.

Absinthe is now purported to be legal in the US as long as it is THUJONE FREE! How strange as Absinthe is made from Artemisia Absinthium, the herb that gives Absinthe it’s name, and produces Thujone so what is the truth are they selling Absinthe? I don't think so! I have been absinthe drinker for years now and one of the best genuine brands available to buy are Absinthe Original (15mg/kg of thujone) and Bitter Spirit (35 mg/kg of thujone). They're both available to buy from Wormwood Absinthe Original

Breaux and absinthe marketers may have the motive to say that vintage absinthes had low thujone content. That's a far cry from demonstrating that they're not correct.

Dr. Neils Arnold's number of 260 mg/l was an estimate he made in 1992 based on the amount of wormwood in pre-ban recipes.

Meanwhile, six independent studies that made actual measurements of thujone in vintage absinthes all showed concentrations of 9.4 mg/l or below.

The issue shouldn't be considered closed, but the theory of some grand conspiracy in which Breaux is pulling the wool over the eyes of the entire world is pretty weak.

See sources linked from this journal article: http://www.substanceabusepolicy.com/content/1/1/14

I just want the Truth, but BIGBROTHER, says You cant handle the TRUTH