Mickey Finn

[Roger Dyer]

Hello John (Happy Daze) and Louis,

John, I wondered if when mentioning another drink similar to Ouzo you were thinking of Anis or Anisette,
both of which used to be quite common in Spain and Portugal, probably still are. Both were sweet tasting, aniseed based, liqueurs and after a 'session' on either a glass of water the following morning would render you intoxicated once more. Wonderful value for money, but not always appreciated by an unsympathetic Bo'sun, Chief Steward or Chief Cook if you were required to 'turn to'. As I remember it, Anis was the thicker concoction of the two and had a string or straw suspended inside the bottle to which large crystals adhered. The Anisette was of a thinner consistency which I found easier to drink, but both could be quite lethal when drunk in large measure.

Louis, your mention of Ron Bacardi reminded me of long ago nights drinking too many Cuba Libra's or Fidel Castro's (both of which were other names for Bacardi Rum and Coca Cola) " go easy on the Coke por favor, Senor". If I'm not mistaken, Ron Bacardi was a product of Cuba. Other drinks I tried in those halcyon days of a misspent youth included Absinthe (which was banned in the U.K. at the time, but readily available in France), Inca Pisco ( a charming little drop from Sth.America guaranteed to render you legless in no time at all) and then there was Aguadente (literally fire-water) which is probably the most foul tasting thing I ever drank. It was also incredibly cheap and as many of us will recall there were times when needs must. During recovery mode the following day you thought you might still be alive, but weren't really sure. Even now I shudder at the memory. Can't recall ever drinking anything that left me ga-ga for longer than 24 hours, although, sometimes, it wasn't for the want of trying Silly, happy, young bu--ers weren't we ? Somehow we thought we were bullet-proof and going to live forever, now I'm not so sure!


.....................................cheers, Roger.

[Albert Bishop]

You are right about Absinth being banned in the uk Roger. It was because it was thought to be an aphrodisiac. I think that is where the saying comes from, "Absinth makes the heart grow fonder." Cheers, Albi

[Keith Tindell]

Hi guys,
I remember in the early 60`s running from Spain to Finland, we used to buy vast ammounts of Fundadore brandy, like lighter fuel, but was a good source of income from the Finns who could not get enough of it, and paid silly money. that was if you could avoid the customs in Finland, they would try and buy it of you cheaper. Ah those happy days, Keith Tindell

[Tony Wilding]

you are right about absinth being banned in the uk roger. It was because it was thought to be an aphrodisiac. I think that is where the saying comes from, "absinth makes the heart grow fonder." cheers, albi

hi, if its true i need some !

[happy daze john in oz]

Yes Roger, there are a number of similar drinks around. But as to Bacardi, I recall one of the officesr brining a bottle on board in Las Palmas and he thought it tasted a bit odd. One of the other engineers who was a bit of a chemist of sorts claimed that it was about 50% kerosene. No wonder some of it burned with a blue flame. Could have been Esso Blue????

[alf corbyn]

hi lads. my first time in wellington(NZ) was during the dock strike. and we used to work down the holds for great wages. parties every night plenty of money. one of the boys had asthma and at that time they had sprays for it in large chrome containers. he discovered that the refills were a green cotton wool soaked in what he said was bensadrine, ( the stuff that keeps you awake) so we were all buying this and chewing it, and sure enough it was great. when we finally left nz i was walking around with my eyelashes tied to my boots. it was like a ship of the walking dead. my cousin had given me a dozen quarts of home brew and we worked out it would be ideal to drink by the time we reached panama. it was the strongest beer i had ever had, and i was semi-drunk for a week. great days and memories. alf