My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Melville House Publishing for an advance copy of this book that looks at the most fabled of alcoholic drinks, used by writers and artists to open their minds, and the criminal mind that destroyed the trust and a few wallets of its modern devotees.

In the parlance of social media, I am a lurker. For all of my interests, I don't belong to anything online, even really off-line. I've gone to a few conventions for comics, and science fiction, but my shyness and self-esteem, really anyone that would have me in a club is not a club I would want to be a part of, keeps me on the boundaries, rather than an active member. As a lurker I see a lot of groups start, slowly engage others, maybe even start a movement. Than fall apart, either from the next big thing, petty arguments, or in worst cases a lack of trust. People start trolling, words are said, things fall apart. Sometimes thought these groups get ugly, accusations of real crimes, transactions not going through, items not being what listed. Even calls of fakery. This happened to one group devoted to the love of both a drink and a lifestyle that it represented. One that was banned by countries for being poisonous to the body, these believers became poisoned by one grifter who ruined things for a lot of people. And journalist Evan Rail set out to find why. The Absinthe Forger: A True Story of Deception, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Dangerous Spirit is a look at a series of crimes among fans of an spirit, once banned for the elation it caused, a history of a lifestyle and a drink, and the motivations of both fans, and people who love to fool others.

Absinthe was a drink that made artists see the world differently, helped authors find words, and get many people through their day. A drink with rituals for enjoyment, and one with a taste that ranged over regions and countries. Until countries decided to ban it. By the start of the 21st century, a drink popular at the fin-de-siècle of the 19th was making a comeback. Distilleries were legally making the drink, banned almost 90 years before, antiques of the era were suddenly in demand, and absinthe bars and clubs were beginning to fill with people who wanted to share in something. A secondary market also opened in pre-banned bottles of the drink, found in old wine cellars, houses, and other places. This bottles were drunk among friends, or kept to be enjoyed by the owners. This market seemed to have a finite term. How many bottles from over 100 years could keep appearing? One man seemed to have a nose for finding them. Christian was considered by many to know his stuff, a long time collector with an ability to find, and sell absinthe that no one else had. A power in the community so strong that no one really questioned his ability to find these treasures, even as cracks started to appear in the corks he used to bolster his story.

Evan Rail is a freelance journalist based in Europe who knows the world of spirits, and some of the people involved. As Rail came aware of something going on in the absinthe community, Rail began to investigate the world of absinthe in general, traveling around Europe, trying to find out why a person would counterfeit a drink, how one would go about it, and what draws so many people to the world of absinthe. The book is fascinating, dealing with history, distilling, botany, gas spectrographs, and the collector mind. Plus a bit on European trains. Rail is a very good writer, and a persistent writer trying to get to the heart of this conspiracy, who know what, and why so many people allowed themselves to be duped, and what does a person get out of duping others. While the detective work is interesting, the history was what I liked most, stories of bootleggers, falsifying tests on the dangers of absinthe back in the day. And of course the characters, who Rail does a very good job of profiling.

A book for true crime people, as well as people who have an interest in spirits, good journalism an very good writing. Rail is honest about himself, his writing, and the compromises one makes for a story, which I found enlightening. A surprising book that taught me a lot more than I knew, and I think I might have something new to lurk on the Internet about.

I do not know much about absence but I've always been intrigued by the way it pops up in stories about fascinating people like Toulouse Lautrec and Oscar Wilde. I'm also generally a fan of unusual history, so decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, I just could not connect with Rail's storytelling style. For such intriguing topics as notorious liquor and fraud, I found the tone oddly dry and dispassionate. Neither the third person trip into the mind of the forger now the details of the fraud itself seemed to have any drama or bang, despite the fact that you would imagine both to be right in such a tale. I think the writing style and my reading style just don't mesh well.

Veteran spirits writer Rail tackles a real-life mystery, the curious career of a counterfeiter of pre-ban absinthes, ostensibly made before 1915. Adding to the case's complexity: not only was the forger regarded as an authority in the tightly-knit world of absinthe aficionados, but he was even known to Rail. Rail not only investigates the story of "Christian," as the forger is called, but also dives deep into the history and culture of absinthe, a spirit with a controversial and largely undeserved reputation, as well as exploring the impulses that drive collectors in general. The book contains welcome flashes of autobiography, as Rail recounts the lot of the freelancer in the modern media era, admitting that he looks into the matter in part because he longs to follow a story all the way to the end. "Christian" did not merely commit fraud but also damaged what had been an open and vibrant community of enthusiasts, and Rail considers that toll, too. The only blemish on the book is that the forger remains a squirrelly, abstract presence, a state of affairs Rail can't control. A fascinating true-crime tale that engagingly plumbs the mania of obsessives.

The title of this book really intrigued me. I thought I was in for some kind of historical cat and mouse chase but that didn’t end up being the case. Instead it’s a very modern story about a very old alcohol with a very devout following. The author was mainly a food and travel writer, it he was friends with many people in various absinthe groups, including the forger and when he caught wind of the sorry, he was quite intrigued.

He ended up traveling to various counties in Europe meeting mutual friends of the absinthe forger and victims as well, to get their side of the story. It was absolutely fascinating to see the story unfold and wonder if justice would ever be served and if the forger was going to be caught. I liked how the story was written more like many short articles than one long book. I felt like I could read it in bite size chunks, following him from country to country.

I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone who is curious about absinthe and enjoys how someone could forge bottles that are over 100 years old. I’ve never drank absinthe myself but absolutely want to try it now. It sounds like a very interesting flavor profile.

*I was given this book for free in return for my honest opinion*

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Please note this is a 4.5.

This was a really good read, and fascinating from the perspective of someone who has only the faintest of romantic notions about absinthe (mostly from a juvenile love of Oscar Wilde) and wanted it to be her first drink simply for those romantic notions. I had no idea about the history of the drink, and the fact that there was so much tied into prohibition, bans, propaganda, misplaced blame, and, of course, a roaring black market trade.

Rail does this part of the novel really well - setting up a story of a forgery that crossed country borders and affected the absinthe collectors market in a deep and scarring fashion. The book is definitely well-written as a travel novel, with a lot of work that has gone into speaking to the affected parties in the recent forgery, learning the circumstances of those affected by the original ban and why and how things went the way they did, and so much more. This book was beautifully written, and the descriptions of the absinthe too were like a fantastic food and wine guide. It even induced me to go out and get myself a bottle of a slightly more interesting brand than Green Fairy!

I will say that the end of this was not quite as good as the rest of the book- I did think that it was unfulfilling, but I also understand that is part of the point of it, but I think it just could have been done a bit better. I would have loved to see a few more bits tied up at end of the novel, hence the 4.5 star rating. All in all, this is a really good read on a fascinating niche topic, and well worth a look!

Let me preface this review by saying I had no prior interest in Absinthe but I do like to read stories about exposing fraud so I checked this book out.
The Absinthe Forger starts with an imagined look into the mind of the titular Forger and alternates between detailing the history of Absinthe and how the Forger established themselves as an authority in the niche community of people who are fascinated by Absinthe.
Overall, it's an interesting story. I think the chapters about the history of Absinthe and its culture in the past were interesting. For me, the fraud story was less engaging which was a little surprising. It isn't a particularly exciting story to read as an outsider but I think if you are a fan of Absinthe or like learning about the history of different liquors and the social culture around them, you would enjoy this book.

This is one of those books that I would have never expected to pick up, but I'm glad I did. Absinthe is a very niche thing, and the only reason why I was interested in the book is because I had stumbled across a video about it and then came across this ARC and wanted to read more about it. This book dives into such a niche thing but does so in a way that is entertaining, and you learn so much about this one thing and the interesting history behind it. Rail was great in the storytelling that surrounded the facts and history given so that the book didn't seem like a history book but rather a well rounded exploration of the topic. It's a book about something niche, but honestly, these types of nonfiction books are what I look for because reading about things that I don't know a lot about is so much fun. This book is great if you are looking to learn about something new. You might think that it would be something boring. I can assure you it is not, and Rail makes sure you become over the moon excited to read about absinthe.