Mickey Slim

The Mickey Slim was a drink that had short-lived popularity in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s.[2] According to The Dedalus Book of Absinthe by Phil Baker,[3][4] it was made by combining gin with a pinch of DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), an insecticide that would later be banned in most countries; consumers of this concoction claimed that its effects were similar to absinthe.

Mickey Slim
Cocktail
TypeCocktail
Primary alcohol by volume
Commonly used ingredients
PreparationStir the DDT into the gin and serve
NotesDDT is not very soluble in gin so only a small quantity will dissolve. DDT has been linked to numerous health problems in humans.[1]

Due to lack of documentary evidence, it has been questioned whether this is a modern urban legend.[5]

Time Magazine, August 1, 1971 reported that Pest Control Executive Robert Loibl and his wife Louise start breakfast with a 10 mg capsule of DDT to demonstrate its safety, doing so for three months in front of witnesses.[6] A famous British entomologist, Kenneth Mellanby, often ate small amounts of DDT during his 40 years of lectures. Professor Gordon Edwards also demonstrated this frequently, and he appeared in the September 1971 edition of Esquire magazine doing so. None of them reported any psychoactive effects of their consumption of DDT.

There have been no reports of this tasteless chemical having any psychoactive effects, thus it is unlikely that it has an effect "similar to absinthe", especially since the assumed psychedelic effect of absinthe, that is, the effect of the chemical thujone, has in recent times been revealed to be close to non-existent.[7]

This beverage should not be confused with the knockout drink known as the Mickey Finn.

Books
  • The DDT story. Kenneth Mellanby. Farnham, British Crop Protection Council, 1992. ISBN 0-948404-53-1
  • How DDT can spice up your drink. Gloeb Mendaal, 1958.
gollark: We must kill ~~all~~ <1-year-old golds. **FOR THE RATIOS!**
gollark: Okay, probably not.
gollark: For a brief, glorious moment, golds will be as common as, say, nocturnes.
gollark: We must kill all Golds. **FOR THE RATIOS!**
gollark: They probably know, though.

See also

Notes
  1. Eskenazi, Brenda (May 4, 2009). "The Pine River Statement: Human Health Consequences of DDT Use". Environmental Health Perspectives. 117 (9): 1359–1367. doi:10.1289/ehp.11748. PMC 2737010. PMID 19750098.
  2. "Mickey Slim: Delicious World of Cocktail". zcocktails. Archived from the original on 12 April 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  3. Phil Baker (2001). The Dedalus Book of Absinthe. Dedalus. ISBN 1-873982-94-1.
  4. Lezard, Nicholas (15 December 2001). "In a green shade". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  5. Koerner, Brendan (June 9, 2010). "The Myth of the Mickey Slim". Retrieved January 28, 2012.
  6. "DDT diet". Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. June 11, 1971 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. Padosch, Stephan A; Lachenmeier, Dirk W; Kröner, Lars U (2006). "Absinthism: a fictitious 19th century syndrome with present impact". Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy. 1: 14. doi:10.1186/1747-597X-1-14. PMC 1475830. PMID 16722551.
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