I wouldn’t normally double post, but I thought this might be of interest to those who enjoy a drink. It was a comment that suggested that only Britain exports alcoholic beverages that reminded me of absinthe, the drink that has only been legalised again in France relatively recently.
There is an absinthe bar in a little cellar in a narrow street in an old town in the south of France. Each table has a water fountain with four tiny taps. There is a list of different absinthes to choose from. None of them have names like Van Gogh’s Delirium or Verlaine’s Folly, but it was the claim that the essence of wormwood contained in the drink led aficionados to alcoholism and madness that caused it to be banned in France. If you order absinthe, you are provided with sugar lumps and a spoon with holes in it. Put a sugar cube in the spoon and balance it on the glass with the absinthe, then place the glass under a tap of your water fountain and let the water drip slowly on to the sugar and through the holes until the mixture is to your taste. The sugar was originally necessary to counteract the bitterness of the wormwood.
The bar also serves other drinks and has a collection of eccentric hats for those wishing to recreate the “fin de siecle”. It is a delightful place to spend an evening, whether you wish to try absinthe or not.
Boadicea's Chariot 
You remind me of lazy weekends in Lebanese restaurants in Jordan, eating mezza washed down by copious quantities of Arak, 50% anise-flavoured alcohol which went milky white when water was added to it…very moorish…
I’m actually the only member of my family who likes absinthe, ouzo, etc so I like taking visitors to this bar.
Sheona – I must also admit to the occasional liking for any aniseed-flavoured spirit. As CWJ said, very ‘Moorish’.
OZ
Flaming sambucas with coffee beans floating about the surface used to be another speciality much in demand by loose women, who became even looser, if they didn’t set their hair on fire, attempting to glug them back!
I enjoy a flaming sambuca too, cwj, but have always had short hair. So much safer.
I wasn’t suggesting for a moment that all ladies partial to sambuca are loose 🙂
However another favourite after dinner cocktail, once much in demand when I was very much younger, was my Brandy Alexanders made in the ratio: 2 Brandy, 1.5 cream, I creme De Cacao, shaken with ice, and strained. They slip down like velvet, invariably leading to demands for more, with generally devastating results…
How about a whisky sour, cwj?
No, a brandy sour, on a hot terrace, in Greece, in August. It doesn’t work anywhere else, as neither does Ouzo without a similar ambience.
OZ
Sorry, I wouldn’t know where to begin with a whisky sour. But I used to be a dab hand at Gin Dry Martinis, and Daiquiris for Right Brain, on the very rare occasions she may have wanted a drink – and I can always offer you cold water!
Whiskey Sours are a potent weapon in the Devil’s armoury. They do not taste alcoholic, but pack a punch equivalent to several kilotons of TNT.
Treat them with the utmost respect! 😆
Never tried absinthe – but I love Ouzo. 🙂
Who was it who first said, “Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder”?
Here’s a relevant Aussie article.
I enjoy drinking the occasional pastis with a cube of ice. Watching it turn white is one of the best parts. Ouzo is not my favourite, though it is not bad if the particular sample is of high quality. Lately, however, I’ve grown fond of Georgian wines.
Ah, ouzo, the perfect epilogue to a retina adventure. 😮
oh, b*gger! RETSINA
Eye’d watch that, if I were you, Janus. 🙂