I think you’re confusing “I felt something” with “I felt something that’s just gotta be the thujone”

Keep in mind that all the beliefs about Absinthe and the effects of its components were developed in a period when it was impossible or at least impossibly difficult to determine how much of something was in Absinthe or what that chemical might do.

Whatever you felt may have come from any number of sources, not the least of which is your own expectations.

Thanks for posting this.

As for the effect well The Czech brand produced weird dreams and a taste that stained my mouth for the entire night. I felt quite awake and drunk at the same time on all three foreign bottles. As for the Lucid well I only feel drunk.. Slightly drunker then normal maybe.. But highly questionable.

Now how do I rate Lucid. Well to be honest it tastes wonderful for absinthe. very smooth and well balanced. Mix 1 part absinthe to 4 parts water with one cube of sugar ( oh and please leave the flame out of this. Burnt sugar just isn’t right in a true Absinthe). I must also say that I’ve had many other anise drinks and absinthe is quite different then the rest. This list includes Pastis, Ouzo, Aarrak, Sambucha, and Jaggermeister. All include anise but I really like absinthe the best.

Now how would I rate Lucid.. Well I’d give it a 7.5 out of 10. Mainly for the taste. Lucid tastes excellent and to be honest it taste better then any other absinthe or anise drink that I’ve had to date. But why the lower score if it taste so good. Well it comes down to the effect. No alertness or weird dreams. Just slightly quicker drunkidness.

So in conclusion would I say that Lucid is a true absinthe. Well Yes and No. Graned Lucid brings true absinthe flavor unlike the previous bogus products but it still doesn’t produce the same effect. My next bottle however will be from the swiss and in the end try out Lucid if your looking for the true taste and quick availabity.

I can hear Holmes now: “Come, Watson - the game’s afoot!’

Firstly, I did not say “laws have changed” in my Fee Verte post, I said expressly the opposite:

“4. Effectively, the US regulations are being brought in line with the EU standards. This has been done by administrative fiat (based - to simplify - on an expanded definition of “margin of error” when it comes to thujone testing), not legislation, but the effect will be the same.”

Secondly, thujone cannot be “filtered out” of finished distillate, and your use of this phrase indicates your ignorance of even the basics of commercial distillation. The level of thujone in absinthe can be controlled by several methods, including but not limited to: careful selection of the right wormwood chemotypes; attention to the preparation of this wormwood prior to distillation; adjustment of the quantity of wormwood used in the recipe; variation of the cut-off point between distillate collection and flegmes collection. It cannot be controlled in a commercial environment however by “filtering out” from the final absinthe distillate.

Finally: the absinthes marketed in the US are not “thujone free” any more than the absinthes that comply with the EU 10mg/l thujone limit are “thujone free”. They contain low levels of thujone. Some - not all, but some - of the absinthe sold by the most famous marques of the Belle Epoque had equivalently low levels, and would have been perfectly legal under the new US guidelines.

The link you posted to your site contains no new information, and much of what you’ve written there is hopelessly inaccurate. Here is the truth, supported by first hand testimony and scans of original TTB documents:
http://www.oxygenee.com/absinthe-america/legalization.html
I’m quite confident that readers will be able to make their own judgements about the relative veracity of this page versus the page you linked to.

The kits your company Green Devil so aggressively markets don’t produce a spirit equivalent to absinthe, at least not as defined by ANY Belle Epoque source. Absinthe is a DISTILLED spirit. It can be produced by distillation of whole herbs, or the addition of distilled herbal essences. It cannot be produced by soaking some herbs in a bottle and then filtering out the contents. No one in 19th century France made absinthe like this, for a very good reason: it tastes awful. The only people who’ve ever made absinthe in this style are some recent Czech manufacturers, whose products have no French or Swiss antecedent, don’t taste like traditionally distilled absinthe, and are accordingly considered ersatz by most experienced absintheurs. If this is the type of “absinth” you are trying to imitate, you should say so on your website. Why not sell a mixture of powdered corn, caramel and charcoal dust, and call it Jack Daniels while you’re at it?

More Info
http://www.greendevil.com/absinthe_us.html

The companies offering absinthe in the US are now on a public relations / marketing campaign to give the impression that “Absinthe is now legal” In reality no laws have changed. No matter what impression they give you the finished product is “Thujone Free” according to the FDA. Of course they are downplaying the role of Thujone with some slick “organizations” promoting absinthe in the US. Not sure how the public will take it but they are getting alot of press recently