I once did a series of A-Z posts about films, directors, and actors. There was also a musical A-Z, featuring songs, singers, or groups.
This time, it is just about things I like, and that could be anything that starts with the letter.
Absinthe.
This powerful alcoholic drink was once thought to drive people insane, and was even banned in some countries. There is a special way to drink the aniseed flavoured cloudy drink. First, add a little water to the green-coloured liquid. Then you have to have an Absinthe spoon. Soak one cube of sugar in the drink, then rest it on the spoon. Set light to the sugar cube, and then stir the flaming cube into the drink.
Be warned, at 55% volume, it is very strong. Some brands are available as high as 89% volume, and they can actually be injurious to health. (Most Vodka is 40%)
I have an unopened bottle in the drinks cupboard. It remains unopened for a good reason.
I like it far too much.
Hello Pete,
As you know, I liked this series of posts a lot — so much so that I’ve now come up with my own version (crediting you for the idea, of course):
Introductory post: http://themisathena.info/two-new-blogging-projects
First post (likes and dislikes – A):: http://themisathena.info/an-alphabet-of-my-likes-and-dislikes-a
Second post (likes and dislikes – B): http://themisathena.info/an-alphabet-of-my-likes-and-dislikes-b
Summary project page: http://themisathena.info/portfolio/an-alphabet-of-likes-and-dislikes
And two friends of mine already like the project enough to have decided on doing their own series, too! Look what you started … 😀
Cheers and thank you again for the inspiration!
Ulrike
(Themis-Athena)
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I am very happy to have inspired you, and will be checking out the links. Thanks for letting me know.
Best wishes, Pete.
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You‘re welcome, and thank you again in turn!
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Tried to comment on your ‘A’ post and got a message. ‘Invalid security token’. It might be in Spam.
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It‘s a systems issue — I actually do have a https protocol, but it seems WP (and / or Gravatar and / or Akismet) doesn‘t recognize it. You can leave comments using the mobile version of the Reader … not sure how much help that is to you, though (did you ever get your mobile back in working order?!). Thank you either way!!
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I got my phone repaired, but I don’t have the WP mobile app on it now. It kept giving me too many notification alerts, so I uninstalled it. 🙂
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Fair enough — in the main, I‘m happy to hear you have your phone back … that all sounded like an awful (and completely unnecessary ordeal)!
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I disabled the ‘security code’. That was what had caused all the problems. 🙂
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Oh, the irony! 😂
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Let me say so:Only above 50% its alcohol, all the other is soda water. Lol I actually not really remember, but i think we’d drunk Ouzo the same way. 😉 Michael
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Yes Ouzo is drunk in the same way, but Absinthe is twice as strong!
Best wishes, Pete.
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Yeah! Lets look for it, next time i will visit a store where it will be available. Here they only have self produced alcohol.
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I’ve never had it, heard it is lethal though
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You should try some, V. If only once!
Cheers, Pete.
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I’ll keep it in mind.
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I had a Moulin Rouge party for my 25th birthday and my boyfriend at the time came as the absinthe fairy with a bottle of absinthe. Many people came a cropper than night.
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It is wicked stuff, but so tasty!
Best wishes, Pete.
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This will be a delightful series, Pete. I enjoyed reading the details of the proper way to drink this. Is is it coincidence that Van Gogh is on the box? Hmm..
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I think not, Jennie. Many famous artists accelerated their downfall by over-imbibing this green deliciousness!
Best wishes, Pete.
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Ah!
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I don’t drink wine so I wouldn’t know how to react reading your post. Glad to know you are doing the ABC challenge again about thinks you like.
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This is not wine, Arlene. It is a powerful spirit drink which is around six times stronger than any wine! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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I’ve never been one for any alcoholic drinks, although it does feature in plenty of stories and memoirs set in Paris at the turn of the XX century in particular. I look forward to this new series of blog, Pete.
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Thanks, Olga. If you enjoy the flavour of aniseed, as I do, this drink can be dangerously addictive.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I only tried it once, many, many years ago in France. We didn’t do the sugar cube thing, though, perhaps that might have added to the experience.
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Yes, there is something satisfyingly ritualistic about the preparation.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I never tried it, but that’s not saying I refuse to, haha. The first things I thought of with ‘A’ were aardvark and apple-bourbon!!
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I like Aardvarks too, but I have only seen them on TV. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Absinthe, eurgh! I can’t even drink Pernod. Btw I’ve just written a post about how much I hate blocks too. https://lizardyoga.wordpress.com/2020/10/15/word-cannot-express/
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I like all the Pernod-style drinks, but Absinthe is twice as srtong as those.
I will check out your post.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Ahhhhh so you are a man who likes chasing the green fairy are you, Pete?… I wrote a little on this last Xmas and there is quite a good video if you wish to view https://carolcooks2.com/2019/12/12/christmas-tis-the-season-of-love-and-laughterand-a-glass-of-good-cheer/
I look forward to reading about your other likes as you go through the alphabet…Cheers, Pete 🙂 x
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Thanks for the link, Carol. Going to read it now.
Best wishes, Pete. x
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Enjoy!
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This will be a fun series Pete but you’re right that ‘A’ is a tough letter to have to start with! The pictures of Absinthe are Alluring but I’m afraid I’ll have to Abstain.
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Nice play on words, Susanne! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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OK, got it, use with caution. 🙂 Warmest regards, Theo
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Yes, that’s the warning. But is is delicious! :
Best wishes, Pete.
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In doing research for a post I just published on Oscar Wilde, I learned that he was a heavy absinthe drinker during the last few years of his 46 years-long life and was considered a contributing factor in his early demise. Thus it would seem that abstinence from absinthe is the way to go.(or to not go, depending on how you mean go).
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I think it accounted for an early death in many members of the ‘artistic community’, MM
Best wishes, Pete.
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Not much about you surprises me, Pete, but this one did. It does not sound appealing to me so I will just take your word for it and abstain. Cheers!
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I am something of a ‘drinker’, Maggie. Though these days, I tend to restrict myself to red wine only. 🙂
My choice for ‘A’ was hard, as I was tempted to choose Amaretto.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaretto
Best wishes, Pete.
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Now Amaretto I could go along with. I love it.
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Ah, kindred ‘spirits’. 🙂
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The spirits I enjoy are few, but what I do enjoy make me very happy!
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Very interesting! Thanks for sharing! During my research into various plants that grow in my area, and herbs, perennials, etc., I had come across the ‘stark warnings’ about absinthe (I’d have to check my plant database, but from a species of wormwood plant family??) but this share of the ‘way to imbibe’ intrigues me on what the sugar and lighting it on fire does to change the chemical composition before ingestion – – having long ago, (in my wild and young years!) been shown a display of Everclear being spilled on the ground and lit (and burning green and purple spectrum) I said, “um, no thanks!” when the owner of the bottle generously offered a swig after displaying how it burned (which seemed, to my mind then AND still, whether true or not, akin to being asked to drink rocket fuel….LOL) But I always appreciate the various tidbits that come onto my radar regarding traditional preparations of things and always wonder, “Well, just HOW toxic is it if it is ingested given tradtional/proper preparations?” – – :D. Thanks again for sharing!
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Yes, it is wormwood. It can cause alcohol poisoning in the higher strengths, but the sublime taste is almost worth it! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Strong stuff Pete. A pub near us called The Surgery (once owned by the Victorian poisoner Dr William Palmer) served lots of it
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I prefer to drink it in pubs, as the cost of it stops me drinking myself into oblivion!
Cheers, Pete.
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It looks & sounds like Dr. Jekyll’s secret potion! 😉
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It’s better, Eric, as I don’t wander the streets like a demon.
Well, maybe once… 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Way too potent for me
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Me too now, Sue. Reduced to a fond memory,
Best wishes, Pete.
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Not fond, I had a tiny bit and decided it was not for me!
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sounds like a very potent drink, Pete. 🙂
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It is about as twice as stong as vodka, Wilma. But I love it! 🙂
Which is exactly why I don’t allow myself to drink it!
Best wishes, Pete.
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The drink was illegal here for many years…it is making a comeback….I want to try but after ridding myself of morphine….I will wait chuq
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It’s much better than morphine, chuq. I have tried both, and I know which one wins!
Best wishes, Pete.
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Not good…anything that good should be illegal….wait…..it was….LOL chuq
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(1) Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder, so it surely must be good for one’s health?
(2) Vincent van Gogh, lend me your ear! Hear me out, s’il vous plaît! You’ve always impressed me, but I’d rather cavort with the spunky Green Fairy from Moulin Rouge!
(3) You have an unopened bottle in the cupboard because you like it too much? That’s just insane!
(4) Do not try to sweeten the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth. It is not the spoon you sweeten, it is the absinthe. I know this, because I routinely get drunk in the matrix.
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You went for ‘makes the heart grow fonder’. For me, that is strangely satisfying!
Best wishes, Pete.
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I nearly died from drinking too much of it the first time I had it, now if I go near the stuff or get a whiff of it I get nauseous immediately, so my body won’t let me try it again. I’m OK with that!
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That’s understandable, FR. I like it from a distance these days,.
Best wishes, Pete.
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A few miles away for me 😃
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I occasionally have a Pernod, just to remind me how fabulous Absinthe is!
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Ooh no, eek!
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I just remembered a Pernod and black incident, so I’ll say no to Absinthe 🙂
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I drink Pernod or Ricard to stop me drinking the Absinthe. But blackcurrant is a sacrilege!
Cheers, Pete.
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I have had the same response with Drambuie! Can’t go near the stuff now 😂
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That was never one of my favourites. x
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Sounds like bad green-dyed moonshine, Pete. I gave up all liquor over 40+ years ago. Cigarettes too. If I kept up with those 2 habits, I am quite sure I wouldn’t be around to comment on your post today.
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I have never had alcohol or cigarette, simply because I can’t allow myself to lose control. Sometimes I wonder what I’ll do if I get drunk and the scene scares me! 🤣🤣🤣 I am rather too much of a free spirit– Mrs Jakyll trying to hide Ms Hyde. So, I try not to let the monster out!
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I am happy for my monster to surface occasionally, Shaily. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Must be a manageable monster that you have, then…
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Most of the time. 🙂
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Congratulations, Don. I stopped smoking in 2012, but I still like a drink. These days, I stick to red wine though. Absinthe is nothing like moonshine. But I do resist it!
Best wishes, Pete.
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There is a store in Amsterdam that sells a lot of Absinthe. Whenever I see this drink I always have to think of an episode of the Highlander tv series where a certain immortal enjoyed this drink quite a lot.
I have never had it myself, but well in general I don’t drink alcohol, so that’s probably the main reason😀
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If you don’t drink alcohol, Michel, then avoid Absinthe at all costs! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Absinthe comes up a lot in many of the historical fiction books I read, and I’ve always been a bit fascinated by the process of drinking it. Given my migraines, I think I’ll just use my imagination.
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Johnny Depp’s character drinks it in the film ‘From Hell’. It is wonderful stuff, but only in small doses!
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete, I sent a Producer to Amsterdam once and she brought me a bottle back as a “thank you” – it’s the strongest stuff you can buy and I haven’t touched it yet!
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It is so delicious, John. You have to try to drink it with friends, so there is no way you can have more than a couple! 🙂
The friend who bought me the bottle at home was intending to drink it with me, but he sadly died.
Best wishes, Pete.
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