Absinthe friends

Through Fuelmyblog I've had the chance to sample some absinthe from Absinthe-Shop. What's that got to do with language use and journalism? Well, I could mention the (tired) stereotype of hard-drinking journalists, or talk about the connection between absinthe and writers such as Arthur Rimbaud and Guy de Maupassant. But really, I just wanted to try the absinthe.

What I got to sample was La Clandestine, a Swiss 'la bleue' absinthe (which is neither blue, nor indeed green, but clear). It also came with a metal absinthe spoon:

Absinthe-Shop has this to say on the "traditional method" of preparing absinthe:

A 1 ounce / 30 ml measure (also known as a ‘dose’) of absinthe is poured into a glass. A flat, slotted spoon is placed across the rim of the glass and a sugar cube added on top of the spoon. Add — slowly — 3 to 5 parts iced water to the drink, pouring directly onto the sugar cube.

It emerges that in our modern society it is now harder to obtain sugar cubes than absinthe, so I had to use granulated sugar instead - which didn't work particularly well with the slotted absinthe spoon. (Talking of spoons, the next time you are in a greasy one, pocket a few sugar cubes. You never know when you might need them.)

Despite this hitch, the best part about drinking absinthe is the ritual. It's up there with making a pot of tea or brewing coffee with a French press - except more boozy.

For my girlfriend Sarah, who also took part in this madcap endeavour, the best part is watching the absinthe change colour. It starts off clear:

Then, when the water is poured in, the drink turns opaque (and yes, magically transforms one glass into two):

This process is called the louche.

So I'd better talk about the taste. We tried the absinthe both with and without sugar because bleue absinthes often have a natural sweetness (I was told in the tasting notes). And actually, that turned out to be true - the absinthe was not at all bitter unsweetened. Sarah did find that "the sugar took away the alcoholic hit at the back of your throat".

Despite being promised an array of herbal flavours, all I could taste was anise - probably because of my undeveloped absinthe palate. Having said that, Sarah and I both found the absinthe surprisingly smooth, and we agreed that we would rather drink La Clandestine than ouzo, say, or Pernod.

Plus, you don't get to use a slotted spoon with any of those lesser anise-flavoured drinks.

And no, it didn't send me crazy.


Engine Room readers who want to buy absinthe or absinthe accessories get 10% off at Absinthe-Shop until 30 June. The offer excludes items already on sale or discounted. Input this voucher code into the box on the My Cart page to apply: FMBLUV10

'Pokey' as in strong or alcoholic

I realised recently that sometimes I use the word 'pokey' to describe a beer (or other alcoholic drink) that is especially strong-tasting or alcoholic.

The thing is, I don't know when and where I picked up this word. My brother doesn't use it; my girlfriend, who grew up not too far from the town where I went to university, doesn't either. They both seemed surprised when I used 'pokey' in conversation to describe a particular beer, although they understood my intended meaning from the context of the sentence.

I would suspect that this usage of 'pokey' was unique to me, except that I've found on the internet a few instances of other people also using the word to mean strong or alcoholic. One poster on a British discussion board refers to Singha as having been "a very full flavoured pokey beer", for example.

So my question is: do you use 'pokey' to mean (or are you familiar with it being used to mean) strong and/or alcoholic? If so, can you shed some light on its usage?


NB 'Pokey' is also more commonly used to mean small or cramped, which means I could drink a pokey beer in a pokey pub... Oh, and it's worth mentioning that 'pokey' could easily be spelt 'poky'.

Word of the day: pre-loading (in its alcoholic sense)

Pre-loading: "drinking cheap booze at home or in streets before going on to pubs and clubs"; "drinking heavily discounted alcohol before going out" (both definitions from the Addaction website)


I came across today's word of the day, 'pre-loading', in an article in thelondonpaper on Friday. The standfirst was Crackdown on 'pre-loading' drinkers and the body copy began:

A crackdown is being planned on 'pre-loaders' who get drunk on cheap alcohol at home before heading to the West End

The inverted commas suggest, of course, that thelondonpaper expects many of its readers to be unfamiliar with the word. Unfortunately I can't find a web version of the article to share with you.

Although 'pre-loading' (the word, not the activity!) is new to me, it has evidently been around for at least a couple of years as I've found a reference to it in a 4NI.co.uk article dating from August 2007.

Judging by that article, I wouldn't be surprised if the word 'pre-loading' (as it relates to drinking alcohol at home) was coined by UK-based drug and alcohol treatment charity Addaction.

Pre-loading: a new meaning to 'homebrew'

However, 'pre-loading' isn't just found on this side of the Atlantic. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board website states in the brilliantly titled 'Pre-Gaming: An Exploratory Study of Strategic Drinking by College Students in Pennsylvania':

We defined pre-loading/pre-gaming as “the practice of drinking alcohol in a private setting prior to attending an organized event/social activity where alcohol might or might not be served."

So perhaps 'pre-loading' originated in American English and was then picked up and popularised by Addaction.

Incidentally, 'preloading' (without a hyphen) is also included in Urban Dictionary - although the entry only dates from January 2009. The entry for 'pregaming', in comparison, dates from February 2004.

It's also worth mentioning that the OED Online does include entries for 'preload' (noun and verb), 'preloaded' and 'preloading', but none of them (as far as I can tell) relate to alcohol consumption.

Anyone out there familiar with 'pre-loading' (or indeed, 'pre-gaming') in its alcohol-related sense? And again - I mean the word, not the activity...

No hats, hoods, proof of age or alcohol

I'm still on holiday so here's another photo from my collection:



So this bar has banned hats and hoods... but has also banned proof of age and alcohol? Time to rethink the sign, perhaps.

(I can't actually remember where I took this snap - sorry!)

Packs of Skol contain 440ml of alcohol. Really?

From yesterday's Metro, page 2:

Supermarket Asda has been accused of encouraging underage binge-drinking by selling four cans of lager for 90p.

Its packs of Skol, each containing 440ml of alcohol, work out at just 51p a litre.

So each pack contains 440ml of alcohol. Does 'pack' here mean a can, or does it mean the four-pack? If the former, then Metro is claiming that Skol is pure alcohol, or near enough (depending on the size of the can). If the latter, then it would still be around 20-25% alcohol.

I suspect that, actually, Metro is confusing 'pack' with 'can' and 'alcohol' with beer', and that each can contains 440ml of beer.

Here's The Sun's version of the story - and Brand Republic's. Interestingly, neither mentions the alcoholic strength of Skol. Would pointing that out have watered down the power of the story?

And does anyone know off-hand exactly how strong Skol is? I mean regular Skol, not Skol Super or Skol International or anything like that. Cheers!

Shock horror: DJs occasionally mention alcohol

Today's edition of the free paper Metro contains a story entitled 'DJs 'encouraging drinking'' which states:

Radio presenters widely encourage drinking, a study warns today. DJs use language that celebrates excessive drinking with research into 1,200 hours of radio output showing 703 references to alcohol.

So - 1,200 hours of radio and 703 references to alcohol. Maths isn't my strong point, but I make that one reference to alcohol about every hour and three quarters, on average. And that's any reference to alcohol, not necessarily celebrations of "excessive drinking". Hardly a shocking statistic.

To be fair, the online version of the story includes far more detail and is the better for it. However it baffles me for a different reason, stating as it does:

Research into 1,200 hours of radio output uncovered 703 extracts containing references to alcohol.

Of these, 179 involved comments made by presenters and another 45 were comments initiated by co-presenters, studio guests and members of the audience.

So who or what made the remaining 479 references to alcohol if not presenters, co-presenters, studio guests and audience members? Jingles, maybe?

It's worth noting that the study was funded by "the Department of Health and the Home Office as part of the Know Your Limits campaign". So not biased at all, then.

And sorry if this blog post is slightly less clear than it might be. I've been conducting some research of my own this evening...