19 replies to this topic

[Phoenix]

While helping to clean out my Grandmother's condo, I stumbled across a set of the World Book Encyclopedia from 1969. Here's the very short entry I found:

ABSINTHE, AB sinth, is a yellowish-green alcoholic beverage. It contains wormwood and anise. The use of absinthe can destroy the nerve centers of the brain. Production of absinthe is prohibited in the United States.

[Absomphe]

Not surprising.

What did anyone know about anything in 1969, except maybe everything.

[sardonix]

Hey, who needs the brown acid with stuff like that to consume? Just for fun, here's Funk & Wagnalls from 1979: "Absinthe, liquor flavored with pounded leaves and flowering tops of certain species of plants belonging to the genus Artemisia, chiefly wormwood, together with angelica root, sweetflag root, star anise, and other aromatics (see ESSENTIAL OIL). The aromatics are macerated for about eight days in alcohol and then distilled, the result being green-colored liquor. Absinthe is prohibited in the United States, France, and Canada because habitual use causes mental and physical debility"

[Joe Legate]

Amazing.

Only half as mis-informed, the bastids want to hurt my little friends!

[LeRoy]

Ahhh! Pull them up by hand?!
Blasphemy!

[Gwydion Stone]

What? No mentions of hallucination and drug-like effects? Fancy that.

Encyclopedia Britannica 1910:

ABSINTHE, a liqueur or aromatized spirit, the characteristic flavouring matter of which is derived from various species of wormwood (Artemisia absinthium). Among the other substances generally employed in its manufacture are angelica root, sweet flag, dittany leaves, star-anise fruit, fennel and hyssop. A colourless “alcohólate” is first prepared, and to this the well-known green colour of the beverage is imparted by maceration with green leaves of wormwood, hyssop and mint. Inferior varieties are made by means of essences, the distillation being omitted. There are two varieties of absinthe, the French and the Swiss, the latter of which is of a higher alcoholic strength than the former. The best absinthe contains 70 to 80% of alcohol. It is said to improve very materially by storage. There is a popular belief to the effect that absinthe is frequently adulterated with copper, indigo or other dye-stuffs (to impart the green colour), but, in fact, this is now very rarely the case. There is some reason to believe that excessive absinthe-drinking leads to effects which are specifically worse than those associated with over-indulgence in other forms of alcohol.

[Attack Accountant]

There is some reason to believe that excessive absinthe-drinking leads to effects which are specifically worse than those associated with over-indulgence in other forms of alcohol.[/i]

That's a true statement. It keeps your wallet flat.

[sardonix]

No doubt!

[Minnalouche]

Amazing.

The bastids want to hurt my little friends!

Appalling!


The scoundrels!!

[crow]

There is some reason to believe that excessive absinthe-drinking leads to effects which are specifically worse than those associated with over-indulgence in other forms of alcohol.[/i]

That's a true statement. It keeps your wallet flat.

I'll second that. By that standard I should definitely be a member of AA (Absinthists Anonymous, of course). When I think of the shoes I could have spent that money on... and in three months, I'd still have the shoes.

But shoes just don't taste nearly as good.

[OMG_Bill]

I haven't bought shoes for over five years. Then I quit buying absinthe for a few months and now I own a brand new pair of shoes.

Honest! Ask the Precious.

[Ambear]

<scratches chin> I just bought a pair of shoes for the same price that I could have bought both of the Delaware Phoenix absinthes for...course, that's only because my everyday shoes have holes in them and are falling apart. I'm upgrading from cotton to leather.

[Songcatcher]

Thats so funny, but true. My shoes and instrument obsessions have been on hiatus since absinthe came into my life. Now I buy bottles and stemware. I seem to have misplaced my mancard.

[crow]

These days I tend to think of most major purchases in terms of how many bottles of absinthe it would buy: An absinthe spoon holder or a bottle of Obsello? Fancy new boots or two bottles of Ridge? A fancy, oak barrel mini fridge for my new absinthe bar, OR 7-10 bottles of absinthe? Guess which one won each time?

So. No fancy boots. No mini fridge. No spoon holder.

But plenty of abinthe.

[billnchristy]

Love it.



But honey, really? Those boots are 2 bottles of Leopold, look at those flip-flops....5 bucks, we could get some Obsello too.

[fingerpickinblue]

I'm sensing a whole new kind of 12-step program coming down the pike.

[Absomphe]

[Minnalouche]

Absinthe and absintheurs are so much more amusing than a new pair of boots or shoes or what have you not, as is evident by this here forum.

[Minnalouche]

There is some reason to believe that excessive absinthe-drinking leads to effects which are specifically worse than those associated with over-indulgence in other forms of alcohol.[/i]

That's a true statement. It keeps your wallet flat.

I'll second that. By that standard I should definitely be a member of AA (Absinthists Anonymous, of course). When I think of the shoes I could have spent that money on... and in three months, I'd still have the shoes.

But shoes just don't taste nearly as good.

But long after those shoes have worn out, you would probably still have the friendship of numerous fellow absintheurs.

I have a couple of cats who seem to prefer the smell - and perhaps even the taste - of shoes to absinthe, especially if the shoes have been recently worn!

[crow]

But long after those shoes have worn out, you would probably still have the friendship of numerous fellow absintheurs.