Three quarters of a century ago America was in a state of turmoil and disarray. The Great Depression hit about five years previous, and times were tough. Though the Stock Market began to improve in early 1930, Americans were still reluctant to incur debt and declined spending coupled with the Dust Bowl drama in the south kept unemployment at an all time low. As if that weren’t enough to make a man crazy, our belt-tightening ancestors also had to deal with prohibition. I can’t imagine much worse than losing all your worldly possessions, failing to provide for your family, and having to cope with all that sober. No beer to take the edge off of stark destitution and that’s just tragic. But on April 7th of 1933 some relief finally came. (more…)

…and it only took 95 years to make it legal! Yes, the drink attributed to Van Gogh cutting off his ear (actually, the more likely cause was schizophrenia or delicious period paint flavors) and Hemingway being…well, Hemingway, is now once again legal in the United States.

Mmmm….

It’s being produced in Alameda, CA, by our new best friends St. George Spirits, and of course, in Europe. For anyone who’s not yet had the pleasure, absinthe is a liquor distilled from, among other things, wormwood, and is said to have hallucinogenic effects. I tried it once and I did not in fact trip balls, but one shot got me significantly buzzed. It kind of tastes like licorice and gasoline. DELICIOUS!

Supposedly, the kind you can buy legally in America has less than 10 parts per million thujone, whereas absinthe “bottled before 1900 packed up to 260 p.p.m. of thujone.” Oh well, I’m still gonna party like Sherlock.

“After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, which is the most horrible thing in the world.” — Oscar Wilde

Absynthesis.