Some recent snippets of absinthe in the news, on the web and in the blogs:

• There's a blog meme going around, especially in the MySpace.com community, called a "Drinking Survey", and question number 22 is "Ever drank absinthe?". It is still, it seems, a "forbidden fruit", probably because it is still illegal here in the United States.
• Nice list of absinthe cocktails and a podcast concentrating on absinthe can be found at Behind the Bar, including the classic absinthe cocktail:

  Sazerac

  • 1/2 tsp Absinthe
  • 2oz whiskey or bourbon
  • dash Peychaud's bitters

  One method is to just add all these to a cocktail shaker filled with cracked ice, shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Or you can just swish the absinthe around in the glass, pour it out, and add the bourbon & bitters. Garnish with a lemon twist.

  I will say that he's wrong in calling it a "liqueur". Absinthe is a liquor, because it doesn't have added sugars to sweeten it. Admittedly, you often do this at home with it:-)

• Interesting tale from the Modern Drunkard magazine on downing an entire bottle of 100mg thujone (10 times the legal limit) Czech absinthe: Drinking with Van Gogh.
• Nice, quickie reviews of six different absinthes can be found on ether-mask's blog.