Yeeeehaww!

[JediScum]

ABSINTHE IS LEGAL IN THE U.S.!!!!

http://food.aol.com/absinthe-liquor-legend

[Sethomas]

I'm still rather unsure of how to feel about this. It kinda cheapens the whole experience, you know? I have fond memories of smuggling it illegally into France from Spain, and then amplifying the illegality of my romantic escapades by flying it undeclared into the States when I was too young to even have alcohol.

[HungryWantBiddy]

there is something to be said for the forbidden fruit factor.

[JediScum]

I don't think it's a bad thing. At 60 - 75 bucks a bottle, I'm not getting any soon, anyway.

Seth, your memories shouldn't be cheapened by this. You did what you did and nothing can take that memory away, right?

I've tried absinthe once and it was a homemade variety. The guy told me it was a tincture of wormwood he made with everclear, then he cut it half and half with Ouzo. I have no idea what the effects were as I also had some red wine and some DAMN exquiste marijuana chocolate that night. But i've always been keen on trying once more. The whole thing reminds me of this liquer called "Chartreuse". That was weird stuff.

[executioneer]

it's not really even a hallucinogen, guys, that's why it's legal now

[Fathom Zero]

Wormwood will still kill you. And I'm very sure that it is a hallucinogen.

[Sethomas]

1. Thujone, a chemical present in wormwood and, therefore, absinthe, has roughly the same molecular structure (but not quite formula) of THC, and has been shown to have strong and often dangerous psychotropic effects.
2. The relative proportions of alcohol and thujone present in virtually all recipes of absinthe insure that you would die many times of alcohol poisoning before consuming enough of it for thujone toxicity to be a remote concern.

[executioneer]

1. *REMOVED BECAUSE I THINK I WAS PROBABLY TALKING OUT OF MY ASS*

2. True. Except for the "virtually" part. *ALSO REMOVED, I AM NOT A SCIENTIST*

[Sethomas]

Alright, let me explain "virtually". Any commercial absinthe through history has carried the caveat of alcohol poisoning before thujone toxicity, but I've heard of many people dying from home brews wherein the maceration wasn't distilled so the wormwood potency was much higher.

Having made and consumed home-brewed absinthe after my old roommate stole my remaining European stash, the bitterness of undistilled absinthe (think sipping on Pastis while chewing on several aspirin tablets) coupled with chemically-induced seizures strikes me as one of the more unpleasant possible deaths from consumption.

[MetalMilitia]

Drinking absynth is really a very foolish thing to do.

Last time I drank something of comparable strength (I believe it was some kind of 160% proof corn based alcohol) I came to the ill-founded conclusion that I could not only break dance, but do it skillfully enough that a large group of people would appreciate watching it.

Needless to say it didn't quite conform to the mental image I had of myself throwing some radical shapes while a circle of keen onlookers gave me mad props.

[Mintrude]

Goths and 17th century poets rejoice.