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Comment by boomskats | Hacker News Reader

I've had a subscription to David Nutt's Sentia Spirits [0] for a few months, which uses an extract from GABA Labs. I enjoy the mild effect and I do think they're onto something, but I have to mix it as it tastes a bit soapy (that's the red, I've yet to try sentia black).

I like the idea that the subscription to Sentia funds the development of Alcarelle (the product mentioned in the article), but the overwhelming reason I subscribe to it is just to support Professor David Nutt[0]. He is a true scientist with true integrity and will be remembered as being on the right side of history. The way he was treated by the UK government at the hands of big booze is an absolute tragedy.

[0]: https://sentiaspirits.com/ [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Nutt

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I like how the FAQ has many, many different wordings of “What is in this?” and “How does this work?” with absolutely no information in response to them. It is good to not to have to worry about what is in a thing I’m ingesting or how or if it works at all.

Yeah, four or five clicks and my BS meter is off the charts. Not even so much as a hint as to a keyword to Google for more research. :/

But also, I'm rather intrigued and am doing some more looking now...

EDIT: I can't even tell what the difference between Sentia Red and Black are. I can't tell if one of them actually contains Alcarelle (Which is hard to research since that's GABA Labs' former name). Folks, this is not how you do it.

It is engineered to appeal to those enlightened enough to move past the petty question of “What am I putting into my body?” to the really important questions like “Was it made in A Lab of some sort?”

The article mentions Alcarelle trial dates are in a couple of years, it isn't on the market yet. The formulation in Sentia is just herbs, black and red are just flavours.

There is a complete-seeming list of ingredients on the product purchase page at https://sentiaspirits.com/products/sentia-red-50cl-black-50c...

I was also annoyed by the FAQ.

Do you know which of those would be the psycho-active substance for the purported buzz effect?

Many of the herbs included have mild effects on mood and the nervous system

Afaict other than water water, vitamins, preservatives, organic acids and glycerine the only common ingredient between the two is magnolia officinalis. Wikipedia mentions two psychoactive compounds in it with a matching mechanism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia_officinalis

AFAICT “Alcarelle” isn’t in the current product. It’s still in development. The current product is claimed to use plant extracts to try to do something similar.

The most circular bs I’ve seen in a while.

I also bought a few bottles of the red about 18/19 months back. I found that it tasted quite nice when it was mixed with orange juice if I remember right. It did have a very mild relaxing effect but it needed to be stronger, in the end I couldn't justify the price for what it was. I do hope they crack the code though and get something a bit closer to alcohol. And I agree about Nutt, absolute travesty that the government/UK media basically forced him out after his report.

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