http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ijx-YtbYLg

Absinthe Lounge in Dallas has the legal version of Absinthe, which still contains wormwood, but ours is the non-European version.
Ask for our Absinthe specialty drinks, such as the Absintini, or the Good n' Plenty.

POST MODERN: Absinthe, romantically known as the Green Fairy, though not distilled in the modern manner until the late 18th century, can trace its roots as far back as ancient Greece. The famed philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras recommended wormwood soaked in wine to aid labor in childbirth, while Hippocrates, the forefather of modern medicine, prescribed a similar concoction for jaundice, rheumatism, anemia and menstrual pains.

A half-century later, the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder recommended absinthe as an elixir of youth and cure for bad breath, at the same time noting that it had become customary for the champions of chariot races to consume a cup of wormwood leaves soaked in wine to remind them that even glory has its bitter side. By the time of England's Tudor Dynasty of the 1500s, a sort of absinthe called "purl" was being consumed by the country's working classes.
AND THEN....

Rumor has it that Vincent van Gogh had drunk one too many glasses of hallucinogenic absinthe when he hacked off his ear and gave it to a prostitute. Ever since then the magical green liqueur, known for its unique psychoactive properties and bitter licorice flavor, has had a bad name. Absinthe's been banned in most of Europe and the U.S. for nearly a century because of the sauce's reputation for inducing madness.

The European connection
With the formation of the European Union and lobbying by European distillers, absinthe has reachieved legal status across the pond. Order a bottle online at sites like absinth.com, laboheme.uk.com, and eabsinthe.com, and most dealers will ship their products right to your front door.

So why all the hype about absinthe to begin with? It's not your average 140-proof drink. Absinthe is derived from the wormwood plant, which contains a psychoactive oil called thujone that produces what's known as the "absinthe effect." Often described as a kind of lofty clarity that accompanies the standard drunken reverie, over the ages the effect has inspired authors, poets, and artists, including, of course, van Gogh. Many believed habitual consumption led to a subtype of alcoholism known as absinthism, or absinthe-induced madness.

The drink's dangerous rep grew to hysterical proportions in 1905, when French-Swiss Jean Lanfray murdered his pregnant wife and two children after a daylong binge. Soon absinthe was illegal in every European country, with the exception of England, Spain, and France, and the United States banned it in 1912. A few years later, Germany invaded France and authorities made absinthe illegal.

The fairy returns
Despite the fact that the FDA still classifies wormwood as a poisonous food additive, some historians believe absinthism was caused not by thujone but by nasty chemicals used in improperly produced absinthe. Part of the reason European distillers were able to relegalize absinthe is that they've safeguarded production, limiting thujone content to 10 parts per million (mg/kg), which is "probably both safe and appropriate" says Wilfred N. Arnold, Ph.D., a biochemist at the University of Kansas who has studied absinthe extensively. The key is moderation: Mix absinthe with plenty of water and sugar, and be aware that after about three shots the alcohol begins to override the thujone.

Will absinthe ever be legal again in the U.S.? "We have no present plans to address the issue," says an FDA spokeswoman, although plenty of folks are eager for legalization.

Banned liquor latest twist in cruise disappearance
January 22, 2006
STAMFORD, Conn. -- An illegal alcoholic drink that gained notoriety in the 19th century for its hallucinogenic effects is emerging as the latest twist in a modern mystery surrounding a Greenwich man who vanished from his honeymoon cruise last summer.
Passengers say that absinthe, made from grain alcohol and the common herb wormwood, was consumed by a group of men last seen with George Allen Smith IV on July 5, the day he disappeared from a Royal Caribbean cruise of the Mediterranean.
C. Keith Greer, the attorney for one member of that group, Josh Askin of California, said Smith also drank shots of absinthe.
Absinthe is banned in the United States because of harmful neurological effects caused by a toxic chemical called thujone, said Michael Herndon, spokesman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
It is historically blamed for hallucinations and bizarre behavior dating back to Vincent van Gogh.
"In large amounts it would certainly make people see strange things and behave in a strange manner," said Jad Adams, author of the book, "Hideous Absinthe: A History of the Devil in a Bottle." "It gives people different, unusual ideas which they wouldn't have had on their own accord because of its stimulative effect on the mind."
Oscar Wilde, one of many 19th century artists and writers who enjoyed the drink, thought the floor was covered with flowers while drinking absinthe, Adams said.
The modern version of the drink has much smaller doses of thujone than the amounts suspected in van Gogh's day, some experts say. The drink is legal in some European countries, though London bars typically limit drinkers to two shots, Adams said.
The accounts of absinthe come after a series of unusual developments aboard the ship. Witnesses say Smith and his bride, Jennifer Hagel-Smith, were heavily intoxicated and argued in the ship's bar the night Smith disappeared. Passengers say Smith called his wife names and she responded by kicking him in the groin hard enough to double him over. Hagel-Smith has disputed those accounts, but said she doesn't recall what happened. She said she never experienced the effects of alcohol like she did that night.
Hagel-Smith was found passed out on the floor of a corridor far from the couple's cabin the night her husband disappeared. Hagel-Smith has said she passed an FBI polygraph test and federal authorities have said she has cooperated with the probe.
Smith was taken back to his cabin by a group of passengers that included Askin, Greer said. FBI agents have questioned the passengers, but no one has been charged and attorneys maintain their clients' innocence.
The passengers last seen with Smith are also being investigated in connection with reported rape of a female passenger three days after Smith's disappearance, the cruise line has said. No charges have been filed and the passengers have denied wrongdoing. Greer said the passengers bought absinthe in Italy. The cruise line has said the young men were seen trying to sneak their own bottles of alcohol into the ship's disco before Smith's disappearance.
Two passengers on the cruise said the group of young men were drinking excessively. "They drank the whole bottle," said Victorio Jove, a 25-year-old passenger from Mexico. "When I got there the bottle was empty."
In recent years, absinthe has made a comeback, enjoying an allure from its colorful history that was kept alive by later writers such as Ernest Hemingway. Defenders of the drink say it is safe and its harmful effects a myth.
"When you drink absinthe it seems for a while your mind stays remarkably clear," said Theodore Breaux, an environmental microbiologist and an absinthe researcher. "You feel like you are lucid and alert."
In 2000, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley reported that the 19th century absinthe popular with artists and writers contained a potent toxin that causes neurons to seriously malfunction.
"You'd start to get hyper excited and eventually convulsions if the dose is high enough," said Jeffrey Bloomquist, a professor of toxicology at Virginia Tech who reviewed the study. Artists and writers such as Wilde and Edgar Allen Poe celebrated its hallucinatory effects, referring affectionately to absinthe as "the green fairy" or "holy water." But social critics, doctors and others of their era blamed the drink for madness.
Some symptoms described in Wilfred Niels Arnold's 1992 book on van Gogh and others who consumed absinthe included forms of bizarre and psychotic behavior, hallucinations, sudden delirium, convulsions, and even suicide and death.
"It was actually called at one time the devil in the bottle," Adams said. "It was widely perceived to be a dangerous substance."
Copyright 2006, The Associated Press