Weird backstory on absinthe: it was never really banned and never added to any list of controlled substances. Years ago the Department of Agriculture banned its importation and federal government hasn't licensed distillers to produce it since. It's not illegal to possess or consume, you just can't make or import it and sales were forbidden indirectly by lack of legal supply.
Since the active ingredient (wormwood) is perfectly legal there're a ton of do-it-yourself kits that allege that they produce something like absinthe. Typically you mix a bunch of powdered wormwood and flavoring herbs (anise flavored in the end) in vodka, wait a few days, then filter the sludge out (which, BTW is supposedly excellent for smoking ... paying attention KK?). The result is a nasty brown cloudy putrid liquid. I made a batch with triple the wormwood and it is truly awful, so bitter as to be undrinkable even when sweetened with as much splenda as can be dissolved in it. But if you can choke down a shot or so the buzz in your head is approximately like what you feel in your hand when you accidentially grab a live electric wire.
