From the latest TTB Newsletter (available on their website to anyone) regarding importing absinthe.



It's unclear whether this is a change, but this could put imported products at a disadvantage. For example, once St George has their COLA from the TTB they are able to sell their absinthe product (they also need approval from each state where they intend to sell the product).

I'm not sure if the rules are different for imported brandy. I don't know what other (unspecified) criteria there might be for imported absinthe (or other alcohol) to be allowed into the US by CBP.

Anyway, I thought this was interesting.

Sounds like a cop-out to me. Something like saying, "Well I'M ok with it, but go ask your mother."

Haha, that's exactly what I thought when I read it. TTB :"Sure you're label is great!" CBP: "But that doesn't mean we want you to sell that in our country."

Not funny in the least.

That is worrisome to me, just like their other statement to the effect of "just because we say it's ok now doesn't mean we won't change our mind later" or the like.

Which, of course, begs the question, what will the Customs people use to make their decisions? I guess the most pessimistic reading of this would tell us that we're back to square one in some ways.

I immediately started wondering if the pressure on the TTB came from the budding absinthe industry inside the US. A great way to increase your sales would be to restrict the competition. It might not be quite so nefarious. Maybe the govt. wants to tighten up controls to make certain they're getting their cut.

The "change our mind later" is really a punt to the FDA. afaik, it's their regs that say beverages containing AA must be thujone free. The TTB has merely said they believe 10 ppm or less constitutes "thujone free".

I don't know what they tell producers privately, but publicly, they seem to think everyone's going to start trippin' any day now.

T73, the TTB will get a cut no matter what as far as legal importation. Imported spirits are taxed just the same as domestically produced ones I think. I'll have to go look, as I usually don't PTFA to importation issues. If you're referring to all those shipments of Belle Amie, Roquette 1797, Jades, Duplais, etc from Oxy, LdF, Lion (as well as all the Czech stuff from those other vendors), yes, TTB isn't getting a cut. But none of those have label approval either (perhaps I should say yet).

The haha was for the face that I had the exact same thought as I was reading it. That we are potentially back to square one is disturbing, however I don't read it that way. I'm gonna pull an OMG_Bill on this one and look for the silver lining. Maybe it is just them saying something on absinthe for the sake of saying something. Who knows?

Exactly my point.

I thought they were saying that given the present equipment used for measuring thujone they will not certify any reading under 10ppm as reliably accurate enough to differentiate it from 0ppm. But if the equipment were to change then the reliability standard/margin of error could well change too.

According to this the FDA can change the definition of "thujone free" at any time, and in such an event all non-compliant COLAs will be revoked. However, the TTB's method for testing has changed to GC/MS, which hasn't had any effect so far on that definition.

I don't think the update above really changes anything. The TTB was already saying that no customs regulations had changed and that admission of absinthe into the US was being done on a case by case basis. If a specific absinthe is approved for sale in the US I think that is a very compelling case for allowing it to be imported and will result in admission by customs.

I believe GC/MS can easily and accurately detect less than 10 ppm. But I could be wrong. It might say somewhere in somce scientific paper what the limit of detection is.

I think it's the officially sanctioned FDA test that can't detect less than 10 pp. Actually it only says whether thujone is present or not, and I'd heard that it wasn't even specific enough to only detect thujone.

The Industry Circular period references refers to this part of the CFR. Italics mine.

Slightly-related-topic-probably-gone-over-in-detail-already-but-my-'search-fu'-is-weak: Is it only alcoholic beverages that thujone is not allowed to be present in?

Sorry, I can comprehend what an amendment or revision to a law means but what is signified when they say "operation of law or regulation"? I'm guessing a change in something like the admissable margin of error? Unfortunately, it sounds to me like they can revoke certificates when they choose to enforce the the laws or regulations differently. For whatever reason. Like, we just decided the law operates differently now than the way it used to. Do they have to show that the operation of the law or regulations hinges on anything? It's not there in that statement.

It means that the TTB approvals are based on the FDA rule. If the FDA rule changes, so must the TTB's automatically. It's not like they're screwing anybody with this one, they're just letting us know that if the FDA updates their standard on thujone based on newer technology, it's going to effect anything contingent on that rule. If the FDA determined that cinnomon was unsafe, the TTB would have to automatically revoke the COLAs of anything that contains it.

This is just a re-issue of their circular from October.

Somewhat clumsily-worded, all it means is: "yes, we are approving absinthes which meet FDA/TTB standards, but that doesn't mean you can start importing any old absinthe you want."

That's the problem with people going off half-cocked with "Yay! The ban has been lifted!" or "Prohibition is finally over!" (Where ya been? It's been over since 1933).

With respect to people buying absinthe overseas and bringing it here, whether in luggage or by having it shipped, nothing has changed.

Or, perhaps both possibilities are true, since the bottom line is always about $.

Only alcoholic beverages that contain Artemisia species (in other words, not just Artemisia absinthium) if I'm not mistaken. I don't think thujone is regulated in anything else.

PB, the issue here seems to me to be interpretation. The FDA's regulation says that these products have to be tested to have no thujone to be approved. The TTB, who are the party who actually do the approving, are interpreting this as 10ppm or less, in order to have a margin of error. The way I'm reading this is that the 10ppm margin of error is not actually written in to law or regulation and that if the TTB decides to change this margin of error or if the FDA chooses to say, "no thujone absolutely means no thujone", then all non-compliant COLAs are instantly void.

Actually there's a bunch of things regulated for thujone. White cedar. Tansy can only be in alcoholic beverages, and must be thujone free. Yarrow is the same way.This is from 21 CFR 152.510. I think there's actually some others as well. But I'm too lazy to look them up right now.

The National Toxicology Program has this to say about alpha-thujone.

Thanks for that link DP, that's interesting.

Not the first time I'm mistaken.

We've all been there.

Reading these gov't regulations is hard on the eyes and the mind. Most folks have much better things to do with their time.

Will we hear some new music soon?

Maybe. I sure as hell have enough free time with as few hours as I'm getting at work, to finish the album.

The sooner I find out something definitive on a new place to live, the sooner I'll feel like finishing the new album.