Pt. 2 It's legal. Absinthe is now at The Tower Bar in San Diego. [Local absinthe makes it's debut, a review, plus information about thujone-free and standard absinthe's legal status internationally.] Video and review by Reviewer Rob Tower Bar 619-284-0158 4757 University Avenue San Diego, CA I went to the Tower Bar on University Avenue, one of San Diego's foremost hipster bars where the best in indy rock bands can be seen amid 1940-60's saloon brickabrac with Rus Meyer boobsloitation videos playing in constant loops on the monitors overhead, early last night to check out whether or not they had absinthe like their myspace says they did. Seems they do, sort of. The brand they have is Lucid, a 124 proof, specially manufactured for sale in the USA and approved by the FDA on March 5, 2007, type of absinthe that doesn't have high doses of thujone, which is the chemical found in wormwood that caused absinthe to be banned in 1915. In the 1970s Nature magazine published an article comparing the molecular shape of thujone to that of THC, and theorized it would act the same way in the brain of humans, sparking the myth that thujone is a cannabinoid. In absinthe's heyday thujone was also blamed for the drink's hallucinogenic reputation. But while in high doses it has been shown to cause epileptic seizures in mice according to current data the hallucination thing has been proven false, and even modern thujone-containing absinthe contains such low levels of the substance one would have to drink enough to suffer from alcohol poisoning before seeing any ill effects from the chemical. So, soon perhaps the "real" stuff they sell in Germany and the Czech Republic may make its way to US cocktail lounges (right after they legalize pot for hookah bars, maybe?). As far as this non-thujone French manufactured brand Lucid goes, at 124 proof the intoxicating effects have not been tampered with, and I can assure you the absinthe Good&Plenty™ licorice flavor is there. It should remind you of a strong anise liqeur like Ouzo or Sambuca. In fact, it could basically be Ouzo or Sambuca with a little lime-green food coloring added to it and most of us wouldn't know what the fuck. Anyways... last night I also asked around at different bars and didn't readily find anyone else except the Tower that had it here yet. Kudos to Mick for scoring the product - at $60 per bottle retail and $10 per shot to the customer we figured he's tripling his money and counting big coup in San Diego's nightclub scene. Posted below are links to the video I shot last night of Matt, the Tower's bartender, igniting sugar over the absinthe as he prepares each drink like a dealer cooking up a shot of heroin for a junkie. Chad Boyer, an account rep from San Diego's City Beat newspaper chain franchise showed up before his 10 o'clock solo acoustic set at San Diego Sports Club to add engaging conversation about naked girls, The US Patriot Act and local city councilmen who are indicted and die under suspicious circumstances. Maybe there is something to the urban legend that absinthe was the inspirational spirit-muse behind the literary and artistic careers of several late-19th-century celebrities ~Ed.
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