While some of you are on the right track, theres a lot of silliness flying in this thread. Next to none of the absinthe you can buy now is original recipe as it was made in impressionist era europe. There is currently a manufacturer who is reproducing absinthe that was reverse engineered from a surviving bottle from the late 19th century. I believe the fellow actually even went to the length of purchasing a surviving absinthe distillery.Kübler and Lucid are two brands who are now being produced to original recipe specifications. Also, the legality of these is no longer in question because the chemical Thujone (the psychoactive in wormwood) is present in very low concentration. So find yourself a bottle of Kübler or Lucid, pour a bit in a glass, and slowly drop water over a sugar cube into the Absinthe, and you too can feel a genuine smack from the Green Muse.
Actually, a guy did start an absinthe distillery based on some really good absinthe he found that was quite old. It turns out that the absinthe didn't even have any thujone in it after it was tested, but this stuff tastes the same, and has the classic "louche."
As far as best, the stuff from Czech republic is pretty much abhorred by absinthe connoisseurs, and sells only on it's 100mg/L thujone content. Actually, no absinthes made in the past had so much thujone. Another thing about the Czech absinths... they don't have the cool licorice-type taste to them that REAL absinthe has.
The best you can get is not available on the internet. It's only made in France and Switzerland, called "La Bleue" and the thujone content is as "high" as per the old days. It's NEVER green, but colorless, unlike the green bottles of food coloring from Czech rep., and other places.
If you're doing shots of absinthe, yes, your boat left long ago and you missed it. You're supposed to mix it with water, and the flaming sugar does help it go down.
As for ordering it on the internet, most of these prices are clearly aimed at total SUCKERS. The kind of guy who would pay $60 for a gram of hash or weed... If you live in europe, or have visited, you know that you can go to a big grocery store (in the baltic countries, anyways) and pick up any of the dyed green absinths for less than $40 per bottle.
In as much is known, the absinthe made legally in the EU contains as much thujone as any made in the late 1800's.
You'll hallucinate off of the strongest absinthe just as much as you would if you cut a piece of paper out of a Dr. Seuss book and ate it for acid.
Charles, i trend to agree with you here; I believe the hallucinations are just a way to sell the stuff, a marketing ploy (atleast today, who cares about what it used to do?).
it just wont make you trip out or anything so dont expect that to happen.
