Which brands of Absinthe are legal in the United States?
Barely Legal: American Absinthe Passes the Taste Test The absinthe revival, which has been on the move for more than a decade, just took a leap forward. For years, American aficionados of the banned beverage that inspired such artists as Vincent Van Gogh and Marilyn Manson, have made do with quasi-legally imported European brands or, worse yet, near-substitutes made without wormwood, the critical ingredient that gives absinthe its distinctive, biting taste. You need wormwood to make real absinthe, but the herb is a tricky one to work with — one of its key compounds, thujone, has long been considered the cause of the drink’s supposed side effects: hallucinations, artistic inspiration, degeneracy and homicidal mania. Thujone has been prohibited as a food and drink ingredient in the United States since 1912. But Ted Breaux, a chemist from New Orleans and one of the prime movers in the absinthe revival, has developed Lucid, a real absinthe made with real wormwood that can be legally sold
