As others have pointed out here in the Frey, the stuff the hipster are swilling up NYC still isn't real Absinthe, if by real one means the stuff the tortured poets and wannabe tortured poets drank in past centuries. Without the active ingredients, it's exactly what you describe - high proof mouthwash. The real stuff was never outlawed in the Czech republic (at least before they joined the EU) and some of us may or may not have picked up several bottles in our wayward youth (ie, when we were your age) and brought them home in mouthwash bottles. (It worked! They made me open them up at JFK, the customs dude took one wiff and sent me on our way!) That said, even with all the thajon (one drop would kill you? I guess I must already be dead), it's the high alcohol content that accounts for the, well, high. I do find it relaxes the muscles in my back, which is nice as middle age sets in.

Also, given the large glasses you and your friends were knocking back at the Dove bar, I suspect those were some pretty fun absinthe cocktails. I think that's the real fun of the stuff - a high potency, strong flavored liquor that's fun to add to a drink on cold winter night with friends. In terms of seeing ferries, however, I suspect drinking actual mouthwash would be just as effective.