Absinthe

Well, some call it "the green fairy", others (Poe/Van Gogh/Hemingway) refer to it as "inspirational". So hen I saw "absinthe drinks" on cocktail menu at a restaurant last night I was rather excited.
I was a little skeptical at first, but the waitress showed us the bottle - sure enough, made in France, looks green, smells of cough syrup, 60% alcohol. Just like the real thing.
We had a "fruit juice with absinthe" concoction - good, but too many papaya seeds. So the next one was "ask the bartender to mix it with some chocolate liqueur" (to hide the smell/taste). That was a little better. 2 drinks down, and still no green men showing up.


Such a find was to good to pass up, so after dinner we went to a nearby bar that had absinthe. There, the bartender offered us 3 options:

1. Absinthe cocktail
   
2. absinthe from Czech, 75% alcohol-by-volume
3. absinthe from UK (?) 89% a-b-v

The answer was clear - a little green bottle was presented to us, 2 shots of 178 proof absinthe poured.

Well, boys and girls - turns out absinthe is not exactly a "shooter". It's more of a "sipping" drink, illustrated by the painting above. Here's what I learned:

1. Singes your throat on the way in
2. Hits you with a shovel once it reaches your stomach
   
3. that's about it.
   

Can't say that I enjoyed my shot of absinthe, but the experience was educational. I did feel pretty drunk after one shot, but I'm sure everclear would have the same effect. And I didn't write any poetry. Or paint anything

Guess I'll need to find a store that sells it and experiment later.