Marilyn Manson: His booze is shocking

There's something very teenage about absinthe - the rumours about its supposed effects (yes, you'll see things after drinking enough of it; but if you drink enough vinegar from a pickled onion jar you'll eventually see things); the tiresome rituals around having a glass (like undergraduates having a bit of weed); the belief that drinking it somehow connects you to art and literature and makes you more interesting.

So, it's not surprising that Marilyn Manson has launched his own brand of absinthe - he's not brewing it himself, but he has done some of his drawings for the label.

The question is, though: is it any good?

No, reckon the experts at Epicurious, giving it a low mark at testing:

"Serve this slightly chilled at your next holiday party, along with that old, stale Stollen"

The No. 1 problem was the aroma, which some verbally compared to sewage water or swamp mud, but with the exception of a lone taster, the panel felt it wasn't really worth wading through the odor to get to mediocre flavor anyway.

Ah well. Maybe Manson could do a hook-up with Diamond White Cider instead.