Can you legally buy genuine absinthe in the US or Canada?!
Can you legally buy genuine absinthe in the US or Canada?
Answers:
The US is the only country in the world where absinthe is still forbidden, so no, unfortunately... But you can order it online, it's not illegal to drink at home. It's legal in Canada although there are no real absinthe brands in Canada (still), you can only find the La Fée and some czech fakes. Why are these not real absinthe? Because La Fée is just a poor oil mix and the czech "absinths" are just cheap grain alcohol aritifically coloured and flavoured.
What is real absinthe? A wonderful drink, not hallucinogenic, not toxic, nothing but an esquisite flavour it's main characteristic, a good absinthe can be more complex in taste and smell than the best of the red wines. It is, or it should be, up to 9 plants slowly distilled with grape spirit, among them green anis, wormwood, fennel, melissa, hyssop, etc.
Final note, always drink it dilluted with no less than 2 parts of water to one of absinthe and PLEASE do not burn a sugar cube over it, you'll ruin the subtle flavours, that's just a stupid commercial gimmick invented by the czechs in the 1990's, absinthe was never drank that way, the sugar cube was dissolved by pouring down the ice cold water over it.
Some good choices of absinthe are the french Jades, Un émile, Verte or Blanche de Fougerolles and especially the swiss La Clandestine and Kübler.
Given some answers I just saw, a warning:
VODKA WITH WORMWOOD LEAVES OR "ESSENCES" SOAKED IN IT IT'S NOT ABSINTHE, IT'S A FOWL TASTING SWILL, as I mentioned absinthe is obtained by an extremely difficult and impossible to replicate by an amateur, DISTILLATION, not maceration.
Source(s):
Me. Absinthe expert, researcher and drinker for 20 years.
Yes, but why would you want to? It's just toxic.
Canada yes, but its frigging expensive. US- no. Unfortunately it is illegal here in the states.
No.
No you cannot.
it is legal for personal use in Canada.
www.absinthesupply.com ( I don' think it's the real thing because it is a U.S. web site)
The importation of Absinthe and any other liquors or liqueurs that contain Artemisia absinthium is prohibited.
The real stuff is prohibited inthe U.S.
Dunno about the US or Canada, but absinthe was banned in almost every country in the world except Spain and Algeria for several decades and legalised again just about everywhere in Europe in the 1990s. Even civilised countries like Britain and the Czech Republic manufacture it. Here in NZ you can buy it. I've made it myself with home-distilled vodka and a bottle of absinthe essence (home distilling was legalised here in 1995). And I've made it from scratch from vodka, wormwood and herbs from my garden and green food colour. Thujone, the active ingredient in wormwood, is only harmful in fairly large doses.
It is illegal to sell true absinthe in the U.S. There is, however, a product available that, for all intents and purposes, is the real thing. It's made from Southern Wormwood, rather than regular wormwood and as such lacks thujone (the chemical compound that is believed to be dangerous in actual absinthe). The name of the product is Absente.
If you're looking for something a little more authentic there's another product called Lucid, made by Viridian Spirits LLC, which is made with Grand Wormwood. It actually contains thujone though it's in a small enough amount to be legally sold in the U.S.
See the links below for more info.
Not in the United States but i have heard you can get in Canada