Lucid US-legal Absinthe
A significant article in todays’s New York Times, announcing what is apparently the first “proper” US-legal absinthe, made by Ted Breaux of Jade Absinthe fame. Called Lucid Absinthe Superieure, it’s made from a recipe including Artemisia absinthium, but tests thujone free.
Release date is late May, initially in New York and LA.
If the product checks out - and given Ted’s involvement it’s likely to, this is important news for the US market - the first product sold in the US to legally carry the word “Absinthe” on the label since Prohibition (Strictly speaking the New Orleans-based Legendre company produced a product called “Legendre Absinthe” in 1934, but this was almost immediately renamed Herbsaint, by which name it’s still called today. There’s lots about Herbsaint, including some great cocktail recipes, in the Virtual Absinthe Museum).
I spoke to Ted earlier today, and he’s very confident both in the quality of the product, and in his ability to continue producing it with no measurable level of thujone. It’s early days yet, but if the demand is there, this is something we might consider including in the line-up at Absinthe Classics.
