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Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Hey anyone know what abc's sell absinthe? I have seen alot of stores selling the grande absinthe 110 proof shit, but this is not legit absinthe. Absinthe is now legal in VA and on abc's website they sell the Lucid (124 proof) and Pernod (136 proof). I have yet to come across either of these bottles at any abc in N. Va. Just wondering if anyone else has seen em out and about?
The Green Fairy Wrote:
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> Hey anyone know what abc's sell absinthe? I have
> seen alot of stores selling the grande absinthe
> 110 proof shit, but this is not legit absinthe.
> Absinthe is now legal in VA and on abc's website
> they sell the Lucid (124 proof) and Pernod (136
> proof). I have yet to come across either of these
> bottles at any abc in N. Va. Just wondering if
> anyone else has seen em out and about?
What area are you in? In Tysons, Lucid and Pernod are at the ABC next to Clyde's. I frequently buy Lucid though, and recently the spoon comes with the box. Absinthe gives a very "happy" drunk to whomever hasn't had the chance to try it yet.
Absinthe in the States is not real. It does not contain high enough levels of thujone to be considered Absinthe. What they sell in Virginia is black liccorace flavored gut rot.
There is some overpriced stuff (like $40) with a portrait on Vincent Van Gogh. The one in Annandale on Little River carries it. I had the stuff one time at that Volt bar in Frederick MD. Stuff tastes like licorice.
There is a chemical in traditional absinthe called Thujone, this chemical is banned in food products by the FDA. This one chemical is what makes absinthe illegal to sell. Generally Thujone comes from an herb called wormwood that is used in the production process of absinthe.
Companies and the liquor industry have found that by filtering out this chemical they can legally sell their brand of absinthe in the USA.
The truth is that any absinthe sold in the USA will be determined by the FDA to be "Thujone Free". In the end whatever absinthe you find on the shelf will be "Thujone Free" according to the FDA
Bogus Wrote:
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> There is a chemical in traditional absinthe called
> Thujone, this chemical is banned in food products
> by the FDA. This one chemical is what makes
> absinthe illegal to sell. Generally Thujone comes
> from an herb called wormwood that is used in the
> production process of absinthe.
>
> Companies and the liquor industry have found that
> by filtering out this chemical they can legally
> sell their brand of absinthe in the USA.
>
> The truth is that any absinthe sold in the USA
> will be determined by the FDA to be "Thujone
> Free". In the end whatever absinthe you find on
> the shelf will be "Thujone Free" according to the
> FDA
Spent a year in Europe. The American absinthe i've tried was much better than any of the european stuff. Thujone/wormwood doesn't do anything, absinthe just happens to be extremely high in alcohol.
Actually the Thujone is found in Absinthe in the same quantities whether it is in Europe or North America. There is no Thujone free absinthe check with any distiller of it and they will confirm it. The reason it was banned around 1914 was homemade bootlegged absinthe was way too high in proof and had other more deadly stuff like coppersulfate added to make it look green. The French Wine Industry saw the popularity of absinthe cutting into their profits and they launched a campaign against it to reclaim marketshare.
Regardless, modern absinthes, in keeping with EU regulations, contain less than 10mg of thujone per liter, despite the fact that foods that contain thujone have no restrictions at all. For example, sage and sage oil (which can be more than 50% thujone) are on the Food and Drug Administration's list of safe substances.
PBR is making a comeback. Whole Foods Fair Lakes had a huge display of it a couple of weeks ago and I saw it served at a couple of BBQ places, including Urban BBQ in Ashburn. Drinking PBR is now "retro" and cool.
stay away from anything Czech as it's not REAL Absinthe. If you want to drink green colored liquor with a hand full of that thujone crap thrown in be my guest. There are a lot of decent Swiss and French brands available but even those are hit or miss sometimes.