In the Czech republic last year, I had the real stuff, served over ice in pretty crystal tumblers.
I had two little tumblers full and was seeing double. Honest to God, two of everything. I later found out that because the bar owner was a friend of the girl I was traveling with, he’d given us double shots of absinthe.
It’s the only time in my life I’ve ever blacked out and forgotten a part of the night, and that freaked me out enough that I’m never doing that again.