I was talking to my grandma (75 years old) over the phone. I told her that I had gotten very drunk on New Year’s Eve. She said, “I was very drunk too. They kept plying me with alcohol and absinthe.”
“Absinthe?” I said. “Really?”
“Yes,” she said, “they had bottles of absinthe from France.” (They being the hosts of whatever party she was at, I guess.)
I found this exchange hilarious. I don’t know how much of a hallucinogen absinthe actually is, but it definitely has a reputation as being a drink for out-there weirdos, as far as alcohol goes. My grandmother being a very straight-laced and conservative woman, I was a little surprised to hear this.
The stuff she drank was, in all probability, not quite the stuff Toulouse-Lautrec used to imbibe. Still, it looks cool on your CV.
The rumors of the evils of absinthe were started years ago when it was becoming more popular than wine in france. The french wine makers started a propoganda campaign to retaliate. Hemingway loved the stuff and he was not crazy, suicide notwithstanding. I have had it in pretty large quantities in France and Hungary and had no symptoms other than those normaly associated with alcohol. Now Ouzo on the other hand…
There are other green liquors, which are more likely to be served to old ladies at parties. Think Creme de menthe,a mint flavored green liqueur.
Or Pisang Ambon, a sweet banana liqueur.
Both are more likely to be served to elderly ladies then abosinthe, which has a far too high alcohol content.
FWIW, I had modern absinthe too, and like other said upthread, it is just a strong, (very strong) drink. It hardly contains any wormwood anymore, whicht used to be the hallucogenic compound.
Hopefully for her it wasn’t actually absinthe - I had it once and the sheer horror of the taste made me vomit in my friend’s sink.
Here is a good faq
BTW it has been aproved for import since last year so you Mods don’t have to immediately disapear this thread. (unless you want to)
Absinthe. Makes the heart grow fonder.
