The Absinthe Forger: A True Story of Deception, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Dangerous Spirit

Step into the exclusive world of “the Green Fairy” in this astonishing true crime story about an eccentric con man who blew up the black market with counterfeit absinthe...

Absinthe, an elixir made of alcohol and herbs, is a booming business. From France to Japan, new absinthe distilleries are opening every year. Yet it is still an underground culture, associated with mystery, romance, and bohemian lifestyles, in keeping with its popularity among the writers, artists, and other ne’er-do-wells of nineteenth-century France. First produced in eighteenth century, the spirit, known as “the Green Fairy,” was banned worldwide by 1914 before the bans were gradually overturned beginning in 2005, the year Switzerland re-legalized absinthe.

Enter a bon vivant who inveigles his way into the private Facebook groups where the modern absinthe demimonde converges and charms some of the best minds (and palates) in the beverage world into thinking that he was selling them precious vintage pre-ban bottles.  How did he get away with it? 

The Absinthe Forger pieces together the forger's subterfuge and motivation. It shows how absinthe can transform a person — and even connect drinkers with a deeper, often hidden sense of self. It relates the romantic and illicit history of absinthe, from its birth in Switzerland through its coming of age in France, and on to the spirit’s modern revival starting in the 2000s.

Rail digs deep into the modern absinthe underground, whose members are still frantic to find the last remaining bottles of pre-ban absinthe, and he visits modern producers of the spirit, who have, in a generation, changed in status from daring-criminal bootleggers to sought-after celebrities. Ripe for a Netflix documentary, The Absinthe Forger is a compellingly bizarre crime drama that will make you never look at wormwood in the same way again.

This fascinating book includes over a dozen black & white photos with fin de siècle advertisements for absinthe, paintings by Degas and Manet, antique absinthe bottles and their ornate labels, along with botanical illustrations.

About the Author

Evan Rail writes about food, drink, and travel for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Condé Nast Traveler, Saveur, BeerAdvocate, Smithsonian Travel, National Geographic Travel, Fodor’s, *Wallpaper, and the Lonely Planet’s Global Beer Tour. His monthly “Free Pour” column at the popular site VinePair has been nominated for the International Association of Culinary Professionals Awards.

Evan has appeared on several television programs, most notably showing Anthony Bourdain around the world of Czech food and drink on the television show No Reservations and drinking Czech beer during an interview with Phil Black on CNN. He has explained what it is like to bathe in beer on the Discovery Channel’s How Stuff Works and been quoted on where to drink in Prague in USA Today. Radio interviews with Evan have appeared on the BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle, Radio Prague, and Hungarian National Radio. He regularly records podcasts for Good Beer Hunting, where he works as international editor.

Evan’s poems and essays have appeared in The New Republic, The Times Literary Supplement, Poetry Review, Agni, Metre, and Zyzzyva.

Author Residence: Prague, Czech Republic

Author Hometown: Fresno, CA