I fully admit to being an asshole; I just have a very low patience and tolerance threshold for stupidity. Dickwad may be a bit strong, but I only get that way when dealing with stupid people. Others will be treated with the respect they deserve. Even ignorance I can accept, as being ignorant just means you haven't learned yet, but have the ability to do so. But when some idiot comes in and spouting nonsense like they know everything, it sort of becomes my mission to prove them wrong. And being stupid, they become even worse when they are proven wrong.. So that just irritates me even more, and you get the picture
Yeah I have never tried Hill's, but I know its reputation. It's the first mainstream "absinthe" (I use that term loosely) to get popular in UK and subsequently BC, etc. There are so many shitty absinthes out there, that I wish more people would pay attention and spend some time learning the facts. Even I have bought my share of crappy absinthe (I still have a bottle of "NS" sitting on my liquor shelf that I bought long before I moved to Hong Kong.. We drank some of it, and it gave my sister an ulcer). People respect fine whisky and fine wine, but when it comes to Absinthe, for some reason it's treated as this whacky "fad" that people want to drink in an ignorant attempt to "get high" or feel "intense drunkness"
EDIT: I see on your blog that Morton's has an "absinthe" tasting, and are using Hill's. That saddens me deeply, as people will go there and probably pretend to like the stuff, thinking that it is the way asbinthe is supposed to taste. Poor them
Your photography is good, and demonstrates just what is wrong with Hill's (besides the taste and the fact that is it not absinthe, and is essentially cheap vodka mixed with herbal extracts). When the water is added, the asbinthe should "louche" which turns it a milky white. I have seen various levels of this effect, and it is part of what makes absinthe so enjoyable to drink. Sometimes you get a louche that is as white as milk. Really good absinthe will have different characteristics with the louche; the lowers part of the glass will appear thicker and almost oily, while there will be light whisps of cloudiness at the top, and gradients in between. Sometimes, I will just drop a few icecubes in some pure absinthe, and let them melt as I watch the streaks of white clouds emanate from them. It's these nuances that makes absinthe so wonderful. You will get none of that with the garbage that is commonly sold and mass marketed, which is really,
really sad.