Absinthe

[sapi]

Apparently it did used to be dangerous, thanks to one of the chemicals used in its manufacture being, for lack of a better word, a poison

As for how it is today, though, to me it tastes bloody awful (very strong, as you'd expect, but lacking in any flavour at all), but I get the impression that after the first shot it'll all start tasting lovely

[Stig]

Every alcoholic drink is dangerous as long as you drink enough of it, if you take only 1 glass you won't feel a thing ... unless you're weak when talking about alcohol.

[sapi]

Yeh, I understand that, but absinthe was actually dangerous above and beyond the massive alcohol content

[HoreTore]

A very good site with an excellent FAQ on absinthe:

http://www.feeverte.net/faq-absinthe.html#B

It has answers to the common myths about absinthe, ie. the hallucinations, why it's banned, how dangerous it is, etc.

Absinthe is one of my favourite drinks, along with the Islay scotches. I LOVE the anis taste, to me, it goes down just as fast as milk. It's usually 80% though, to some people, that's a bit to strong. If you feel it's too strong for you, simply water it down a little, or get one of the softer ones, usually 55%, but I've seen some at 40%. It doesn't get you "high", but I've found it makes you drunk in a different way to other drinks. Kind of a like combining the happiness of wine and the coolness of scotch. Oh, and almost every time I've woke up at a place I don't know with no memory how I got there...

A piece of advice though: don't drink if you hope to get lucky that night.... It won't happen.