The Green Fairy
I've heard any number of people blame a particular spirit for a bad “night out”. “I can't drink tequila any more” is a frequent mantra, the (inaccurate) presumption that the drink, rather than the state of mind of the drinker at the time, was to blame for a sordid evening. Those bruised by imbibing too much are destined to forever connect a whiff of the offending liquor with physical revulsion; it's the body's way of protecting itself from being poisoned. Again. One spirit has a reputation for going one step further, beyond the normal effects of alcohol into a completely different realm. Just the name “Absinthe” conjures images of people in woodcut images passed out (or dead) on the streets as if a green liquid plague had swept through the population. Any substance deemed so dangerous as to be banned almost guarantees that someone will seek it out. Presumably we were too content with the normal variety of alcoholic beverages and needed something a bit more dangerous...