The Absinthe Forger

September 1, 2024
An iconic alcoholic spirit, absinthe has a remarkable history beyond the drink itself, extending into art and literature. Often referred to as the green fairy, absinthe was denounced in late nineteenth century as poison for its inclusion of wormwood (then suspected to be hallucinogenic and deadly). It appears in paintings by Degas, and it was known to have been copiously imbibed by such talents as Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh. Absinthe was banned for many decades, and demand for ancient bottles of absinthe that date from before the ban has generated a frenzied market among connoisseurs. This has led, unsurprisingly, to the counterfeiting of old bottlings of the spirit. Evan Rail (The Brewery in the Bohemian Forest, 2021) sets off in search of one of most notorious of these fakers, "Christian," whose trail Rail pursues across Europe. Rail finds that even Christian's victims continue to be somewhat in awe of the fraudster. Photographs illustrate, among other subjects, the association of absinthe with stunning examples of art nouveau. Aficionados of pastis, ouzo, modern absinthe, and other such libations will learn a lot here about the ancestral archetype of contemporary anise-flavored drinks.

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September 15, 2024
The cultural history of absinthe, via an audacious contemporary fraud. Rail, most of whose previous books are about beer, assembles a multilayered account of absinthe's return to mainstream society, navigating the history of decadence and moral panics that led to most countries banning the liquor from 1915 until about 2007. The existence of an "absinthe underground," fixated on illicit distilling and on unearthing stashes of pre-ban absinthe bottles, enabled a con artist calling himself Christian to sell reclaimed antique bottles filled with his carefully ersatz blends, which simulated highly sought-after pre-ban absinthes that routinely sold for thousands of euros in these online communities. "He made a small fortune on it, but he basically ruined the whole absinthe community," one distiller comments. Rail explores how Christian fooled even connoisseurs: "The man was a cornerstone of the absinthe world, a trusted authority on both antiques and spirits." While attempting to track down Christian (who scrubbed his online presence after exposure by other prominent "absintheurs"), Rail wanders through European locales where absinthe distilling has revived, including Switzerland and Czechoslovakia, and meets iconoclastic figures from the absinthe revival, most of whom were befriended and then burned by Christian. Rail argues that the incident exemplifies the degree to which high-end drinking culture relies on trust and social currency, concluding that as a result of Christian's exposure, "Doubts extended to the entirety of absinthe culture. Part of the problem was that no one knew how long the counterfeits had been circulating." His writing is lively and informed but sometimes rambling, with digressions about his food writing, the science behind unmasking the phony spirits, and the contentious personalities of the since-dispersed underground absinthe scene. An entertaining survey of spirits culture past and present.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.