its a halucinegenic alcoholic spirit, that has a very strong licorice flavor. Its green in color and supposed to be servered poured through sugar cubes. The halucinegenic properties come from the wormwood. There are all sorts of recipes to make it, but in the states, your best bet is get the bottled kind and go and get some wormwood. Then soak the wormwood in the absynth.
It dates way back and was extremely popular with artists and writers in Europe at the turn of the 19th/20th century.
...and for the genius mentioning moonshine at 200 proof. Good luck, that would be 100% pure grain alcohol, odorless, tasteless, and deadly (not to mention the fact that it would evaporate so quickly and be so incredibly volitile to make). The human body cannot handle 100% pure grain alcohol, that is why Everclear is about as high as you can get at 190 proof (95% pure grain alcohol).
yeah, I drink too much