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Pernod, Ouzo, Pastis, all have been my favourites over the years. Depending on my mood or taste buds, I drank with added water, or added lemonade. Two smallish glasses were always enough for an evening's drink. A strong smell of aniseed lingered for hours afterwards.

Any of those three make a wonderful aperitif for sitting with in the warmth of a mediterranean evening, watching the world go by.

Thanks for the 'dreamscape' with 'smell-a-vision', Linmag and Byron; I'll add Demis Roussos singing "Happy to Be on an Island in the Sun"

Lightning~
Thanks for the 'heads up' on Baudelaire, I hadn't read anything of his before. Here's the page to find the poem 'L'Invitation au Voyage' in both English and French: http://french.chass.utoronto.ca/fcs195/baudelaire.html

~Makera

qq

Baudelaire >>> paralyzed, dead at 46.
Other famous absintheurs: Rimbaud, legless & dead at 37; Jarry, at 34; Wilde, dead in Paris at 46; Poe, at 40.

Here's an exerpt from Oxygenee's Absinthe FAQ:
"Pastis has similarities, but is not, contrary to popular belief, basically absinthe without the wormwood. Most pastis manufacturers such as Ricard and Pernod use far higher concentrations of star anise (which accounts for pastis' overwhelming aniseed taste) together with lots of added sugar, and bottled at around 40% alcohol. Pastis contains many herbs not found in absinthe, and also sometimes spices, which are never used in absinthe.
Real absinthe has a herb/floral character, without any predominant aniseed character, is dry and slightly bitter (as a result of the wormwood, one of the bitterest substances known) and is bottled at at least 55% alcohol (any lower and the wormwood oils precipitate out)."

Vermouth, Chartreuse and Benedictine all contain small amounts of thujone.
Absinthe was never banned in the UK, nor much of Southern or Eastern Europe.

The following link is enlightening as a personal account of absinthe experiences. http://home.comcast.net/~andrew-wilson/LS/deboer1.htm

~Makera