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

“a compelling journey of a fascinating spirit seeped in history, nostalgia, and legend.”

“He was a clever man, charismatic and handsome, a lone figure passing through life like a shadow through cold water. Things were going exceptionally well. His career was sailing forward. Along the way, was fine to have a little fun, to mess with those who thought they knew more than you did. All he was doing, really, was putting new spirits into old bottles.”

Absinthe was more than a drink, it was a mythology in part, deemed equally evil (“those who begin to take it cannot give it up, notwithstanding its well-known disastrous effects on the brain, the spine, and the whole nervous system,” wrote a journalist for the New York Times in an article that appeared on December 22, 1889) and sophisticated. After all, isn’t this what Toulouse-Lautrec, Baudelaire, and Van Gogh drank late into the night at those Parisian cafes? There is even a famous painting, La Buveuse d'absinthe by Albert Emmanuel Bertrand depicting a fashionable lady staring into space, her life captured by the green licorice-flavored high-alcohol content spirit.

Eventually, absinthe in countries such as the Netherlands, Franch, the U.S. and Switzerland was banned and after the banishment was lifted and it was available in restaurants and liquor stores, a demarcation occurred between pre-ban and post-ban absinthe. People were willing to pay a much higher price for old bottles of absinthe and wherever there is a demand for an item there are those eager to supply whether legitimately or not. And so came Le Forgeur, the man author Evan Rail describes in his fascinating book, The Absinthe Forger.

Learning to replicate the green of pre-ban absinthe and recreate the classic flavor profile, the forger made money by passing it off as the original, the absinthe that was banned in several European countries for over one hundred years.

But Le Forgeur got a little too cocky and soon collectors and those who knew a lot about the drink wondered how he had access to such a large number of pre-banishment bottles filled with absinthe.

It is an introduction to some interesting characters such as when Rail visited a home in Sainte-Luce-sur-Loire which he describes as feeling like “the last suburban village at the very end of the universe.” There he meets with an avid absintheur, the description Rail gives to those totally consumed by the subject. His name is Patrick, and he may be, writes Rail, one of the world’s largest collectors of absinthe antiques. The posters, advertising signs, and paintings are just part of what Rail viewed in the two rooms dedicated completely to original per-ban memorabilia. He also saw absinthe branded tables, plates, glasses, chairs, matchstick holders, and what he estimates as possibly hundreds of absinthe spoons.

Rail writes about food, drink, and travel for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and magazines like Saveur and Conde Nast Traveler as well as his monthly “Free Pour” column at VinePair, the largest digital media company delivering accessible, entertaining, and inspiring content about drinks culture and important trends and topics in wine, beer, and spirits.

For The Absinthe Forger, Rail followed in the footsteps of Le Forgeur, traveling throughout Europe, talking to experts in the field. With him we learn the history of absinthe from its origins in Switzerland to its popularity with the Bohemians and sophisticates of Paris and descend into the almost mystic reality of absintheurs who are totally immersed into the world of the pre-banned drink,

It is a compelling journey of a fascinating spirit seeped in history, nostalgia, and legend.