Leafing through the morning paper today I noticed an article on a recently released study. An international team of scientists have seen it necessary to join forces, presumably risking life, limb and legal security, in order to prove that no syndrome known as “absinthism” ever existed and it was all just an overhyped case of good old plain alcoholism. Which it probably was but what’s the point in picking everything carefully apart and examining and explaining it to pieces? Why the need to tear down and scientifically disprove anything that falls into a category of assorted myths and folklore?
I like myths. I know myths seldom bear closer inspection without permanently shedding some of their fairy dust but myths aren’t supposed to. Myths exist for the purpose of momentarily filling the one who sees or hears them with a sense of awe and wonder you don’t normally get from normal everyday happenings. Myths shouldn’t be refuted but supported and added to, and then passed on to new viewers and listeners. As far as The Greatest Myths Ever go, absinthism isn’t exactly there in the all-time top 10 but I like the idea of an open-minded and determined absinth guzzler, waiting to experience things beyond his usual perception, much better than the idea of an ordinary 19th century alcoholic seeking to get wasted as cheaply as possible.
Besides, no matter what you think of the hypothetical “secondary effects” of absinthe, the “peculiarly clear-headed type of drunkenness” mentioned here is quite easily achieved if you remember not to mix your drinks. It’s surprisingly hard not to have an accidental bottle of beer or cider in between shots of absinthe but every time I’ve managed it the results have been rewarding with drastically reduced amount of the usual wobbling and mumbling with an irritatingly unco-operative tongue you get after intoxicating yourself with beer. That’s not to say I haven’t had bad absinthe. I’ve had lots of bad absinthe, most of the absinthe I’ve tasted has been bad absinthe but there have been occasions when “bad” haven’t been the most fitting term to describe what just went down the throat and while going, sang like a siren.
So: down with myths going down!
THIS WEEKS’ BOTTLES OF CHOICE:
Zenato Pinot Grigio from Italy. At last a reasonably priced white wine that’s not entirely unlovely. I’m definitely going to buy another bottle of this. It was light and crispy the way I like white wine to be with none of the pungent aromas and flavours I usually find from bottles of white. Very nice indeed, with or without food.
Tunel Black Absinthe. This is the latest absinthe I purchased and looks to be the last for the time being. It is a ridiculously bad absinthe that tastes like sweet cough medicine and the only reason I bought it was because it’s, well, black and black things are often nice and hold a certain appeal to me. Not in this case, though. It scores a grand total of 3 out of 100 points in the Absinth Buyer’s Guide and that’s quite an achievement. This bottle will last for years at the back of my drink cupboard along with numerous other bottles of horrible tasting absinth with nice looking labels.
