From: Fiona Moore nydersdyner@yahoo.co.uk

I had some Pernod once (which is more or less absinthe without the hallucinogens) and it was kind of yellow IIRC. But in "The Sun Also Rises" the narrator refers to the same drink as "greenish imitation absinthe"--

Imitation absinthe - absynth?

Neil

--- Fiona Moore nydersdyner@yahoo.co.uk wrote: >

I had some Pernod once (which is more or less absinthe without the hallucinogens) and it was kind of yellow IIRC. But in "The Sun Also Rises" the narrator refers to the same drink as "greenish imitation absinthe"-- dunno if that means absinthe is more or less green than Pernod.

In "Gambit" Cally appears to be spooning sugar into the green substance, which might suggest that it *is* absinthe (or meant to be absinthe) cos that seems to be how people in 1920s novels always drink it. But then again, she might have been spooning some other white, grainy substance into a totally different drink.

I tried Absinthe once in Prague. The Rough Guide suggested that it should be drunk with caremalised sugar. Actually it shouldn't be drunk at all - it tastes absolutely vile. A minature of the stuff drunk in conjunction with a couple (ahem) of glasses of wine produces the mother of all hangovers. It is green though.

I'd be surprised if Cally was drinking it in Gambit because she was on duty, as it were, and I suspect she'd have more sense. If they had stocks on the Liberator I imagine Blake would have flushed them out of the airlock in order to stop Vila from drinking himself to death.

So the Green Stuff is either Creme de Menthe or Chateau System 37.

Stephen.

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