Absinthe has the reputation all bad boys and girls dream of.
Fawned over by the elite and artistic, banned a hundred years ago, potent and delicious. Have you tried!? Have you? It is the stuff of legends, hallucinogenic, hyper-potent and most dangerous, all because a few poets and artists indulged excessively in Paris back in the day.
But how is it any different than other alcohol? Or is it? Don’t they say the same about tequila? Or the mixture of Guinness & cider known as a Snakebite? 
I do admit to being coerced into doing an Aguirre, Wrath of God rap after a Snakebite or two in my ill-gotten days, but I expect that spell could have been induced by many things.
I did try Absinthe recently, and it was fine. But there was nothing remarkable about it. And there were certainly no green fairies.
The other week I was an absolute genius while holding down a glass or more of tequila – given to me by a kind student, (Unfortunately, I can’t remember any of my break-through thoughts,) but for you McPhedran, maybe it sounds like it’s time for some peyote,..
Props on the Herzog reference: that must have been quite the scene! (That movie devastates me, in the best of senses…)
The key ingredient that takes it to the psychedelic level is wormwood, which most commercially produced absinthe these days do *not* contain. Go to Czech Republic, France area to hunt down an authentic one – I’m sure there are a few floating around over there still…
Off to the Czech Republic!