A friend of mine got some Lucid and wants me to come over and share it with her. But honestly, I'm not so sure. Anyone ever drank it??
The danger is from a chemical called thujone, which in the original absinthe caused nerve damage in chronic users. Any modern product will have much lower amounts, but it's still a little bit dangerous. It'd be a waste of time buying it otherwise. Drink it. If you both decide better of it, post it to me and I'll drink it.
It's basically just an aniseed tasting drink similar with it's effects to that of vodka. I tried it the other day and I can't say the burning of the throat or the strength that others complained of really bothered me but I despise the taste of aniseed, unfortunately nobody thought to warn me at the time.
Funny you should say that cause I hate both and I'm sure nobody will agree but I do think they taste similar.
Oh, I gotta drink it now. It sounds so cool! and its made with green anise, which tastes like ???? Pour 1.25 - 1.5 oz of lucid into an appropriate glass. Place a sugar cube atop a flat, perforated spoon that rests on the rim of the glass. Using the sugar and spoon are optional. Slowly drip 4-5 oz of ice cold water on top of the sugar cube (or directly into the glass), which slowly dissolves into the Absinthe. The cold water causes lucid to louche ("loosh") into an opalescent cloud as the herbal essences emerge from the Absinthe and perfume the room.
I wouldn't touch it unless it was the real stuff, wormwood and all. The taste and cost to fucked-up-ness ratio just doesn't seem worth it. I'd much rather some vodka, or some beers n joints.
That would place it in a rich and venerable family with Pernod, sambuca, 43, ouzo, Southern Comfort and many others. My favorite kind of booze, and it seems like every country has at least one version of its own.
There's been so much hype about the dangers of absinthe that I'm loath to try it, even in countries where it's available.
According to Wikipedia, one of the herbs used in making absinthe is Artemisia absinthium, wormwood, which contains the chemical thujone. In concentrated doses, thujone is a poison. However, the same can be said about many everyday chemicals and the emphasis is on the word "concentrated." The sage of "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" that every cook uses to make stuffing for the Thanksgiving turkey also contains thujone, and there is far more of it in bottled sage oil than in absinthe. The controversy over absinthe arose more than 100 years ago when biochemistry was as much voodoo as science. It was fueled by politics... there was a wine shortage in France, people turned to absinthe as a substitute, liked it, kept drinking it when wine became plentiful again... you can see where this is going. Absinthe was outlawed in many countries but virtually all of them have lifted their bans by now, with the notable exception of the United States, the rationality of whose drug laws is illustrated by its persecution of medical marijuana patients. Even in the U.S. it's legal to possess and drink, just not to produce or sell. To mollify critics and just to be on the safe side, many countries have limits on the concentration of thujone in absinthe and in other drinks that contain it such as bitters. My interpretation of the Wikipedia article is that the perils of absinthe are fictitious. The biggest risk is its extremely high alcohol content--absinthe ranges from 90 to 150 proof--which will kill you long before the thujone. Heck, now my interest is piqued and I'll have to figure out a way to get my hands on some here in the People's Republic of Maryland.
OK, she has the booze, I got the slotted spoon, now we are trying to find a store that still sells sugar cubes. All we are finding are packets of artificial sweetner. $%^#&
This is an authentic room arrangement for absinthe drinking. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Drink it Paul Verlaine style. Beard optional
Quite so. I don't like any of them either, with the exception of Southern Comfort but that's Whiskey. I didn't think it tasted like aniseed at all, perhaps I was too drunk to notice.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
The Southern Comfort website refers only to its "unique flavor of whiskey, fruits and spices." Wikipedia calls it a liqueur, as does everyone else I've ever discussed it with until now. Drambuie is made from Scotch, but nobody calls that whiskey either, it's a liqueur. I can't say that S.C. is universally identified with anise. To me that's the strongest flavor but I like it so I notice.
