the company he keeps

Michaelangelo drinks absinthe, with an ex-goth and dashing style and writes about it for Seattle Weekly (where he is usually the music editor). It's the "Drug Issue":

As Hiram pours a spoonful of the François Guy brand into a shot glass, I dip a pinky in and bring it to my mouth. Instantly, my tongue and upper lip feel as if smoke is seeping through them. Some ice water and sugar enter the shot glass; after a slow stir, I take my first drink. Not bad—the aniseed that flavors the absinthe gives it a taste akin to a stern licorice, but not very bitter at all, as I’d anticipated. And though it’s clearly alcoholic, there’s less of a pure rotgut kick than I’d expected, given absinthe’s reputation as the most demonic of all alcoholic beverages—a reputation that led to the stuff being banned in the United States in 1912, three years before France declared it illegal.

Don't worry -- Hiram is a pseudonym.