# My grandmother the absinthe-drinker
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmother-the-absinthe-drinker/432369
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 5, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmother-the-absinthe-drinker/432369 "2008-01-05T03:24:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmother-the-absinthe-drinker/432369/1 "2008-01-05T03:24:50Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2008, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmother-the-absinthe-drinker/432369/2 "2008-01-05T03:26:38Z")
The stuff she drank was, in all probability, not quite the stuff Toulouse-Lautrec used to imbibe. Still, it looks cool on your CV.
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### Author:  [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmother-the-absinthe-drinker/432369/3 "2008-01-05T03:29:32Z")
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…
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### Author:  [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmother-the-absinthe-drinker/432369/4 "2008-01-05T03:35:24Z")
There are other green liquors, which are more likely to be served to old ladies at parties. Think [Creme de menthe,](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wineintro.com/champagne/cocktails/images/gem.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.wineintro.com/champagne/cocktails/arisemylove.html&h=369&w=492&sz=45&hl=nl&start=3&um=1&tbnid=D5F43DJvan4uXM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcreme%2Bde%2Bmenthe%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dnl%26client%3Dopera%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN)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.
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### Author:  [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmother-the-absinthe-drinker/432369/5 "2008-01-05T03:38:46Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmother-the-absinthe-drinker/432369/6 "2008-01-05T03:51:02Z")
Here is a good [faq](http://www.oxygenee.com/absinthe-faq/faq2.html)
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)
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2008, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-grandmother-the-absinthe-drinker/432369/7 "2008-01-05T05:56:18Z")
Absinthe. Makes the heart grow fonder.