That’s one of the problems of living in France, so many drinks to ‘try’ - and then there’s all those however many hundreds of different cheeses…
God, life here’s tough…
3 Likes
Pure juice can cause a reaction, but very rarely will it cause extreme rhabdomyolysis. So mixed juice is unlikely to contain enough to be a major risk. I try to avoid it, but don’t worry too much about very small amounts
Everyone can make their own choice… if they know what’s on offer.
We follow our Doc’s advice… OH has had too many “close calls” for comfort.
Yes - I can’t have pamplemousse as it interferes with the atorvastatin that I take to control my cholesterol levels.
But I would guess that one shot of it in a mixed drink probably isn’t going to be immediately hazardous, as eating the raw fruit every day for breakfast would be.
2 Likes
I can’t have any raw citrus fruit as it gives me disastrous digestives results.
I can have them cooked, so it must be the enzymes in the fruit that cause the damage.
as I’ve said… everyone makes their own decisions…
If one is serving Pamplemousse… on its own… or mixed with no matter what… just make sure one’s visitors know 
The pamplemousse in mixtures is very often sirop de pamplemousse (Teisseire etc).
All I’ve got is syrop de cassis with water for my aperos, both non-alcoholic. My favourite would be kir made with creme de cassis and white wine (both alcoholic), the favoured drink of routiers, but I can never remember where to find the creme in the supermarket, maybe have another go tomorrow.
With my cheese it has to be Porto, which thankfuly I have had no trouble finding.
I have also been testing cafe/calva (coffee and calvados also a routier favourite) for my digestif and bought a jigger to experiment with the specific relative amounts, 35ml in a petit cafe seems to do the trick.
It also interferes with Lamotrigine, an anti-epileptic which can also be used as a mood stabiliser.
It’ll be with the liqueurs and things like that.
Thank you, must try harder, tomorrow’s main shopping day. 
1 Like
They tend to have the strong spirits at one end and then go down in strength along the shelves
My husband drinks Pastis (Ricard) only in the summer. Very often we go for kir, champagne or guignolet.
I’ve never heard of this?
1 Like
I believe it’s a cherry brandy or similar… sounds yummy
2 Likes
Made by Clovis Reymond not too far from you @Tory, in Villamblard. They make lots of delicious things.
1 Like
OH worked for Carlsberg (Denmark) in another life…
Their staff Christmas Hamper contained lots of lovely stuff including a bottle of Cherry Heering… phew… marvellous… hic
1 Like
One French friend starts her aperos with soupe à la champagne, a mix of fizz and cointreau. Very nice it is too .
Guignolet do indeed, as @vero said, make lots of things. Yes they make a cherry liqueur but we got an extremely nice creme de cacao in an identical bottle from them. Best not to get them confused 
1 Like
My sister dosn’t drink wine but is partial to Archer’s Peach Schnappes or similar own brand but I googled and found it not allowed to be sold in France along with Advocat which has a problem with the egg content. I have found both though over the border previously. I got a bottle of that toxic green colour Pisang Ambon the other day, not too bad mixed with orange juice and some fruity bits.