Episode #109: Evan Rail

Evan Rail is based in Prague, in the Czech Republic and is prolific food and travel writer, and has covered beer and spirits for many years. His latest book is called The Absinthe Forger: A True Story of Deception, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Dangerous Spirit.

Evan and I have been crossing journalistic paths for many years. We both have written for the New York Times Travel section for a long time and we also have an interest in food and drink, though in very different parts of the world. But we now have the same agent and last year, said agent, sent me a copy of Evan’s new book before it came out and I couldn’t put it down.

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For one, absinthe is this intriguing spirit and I’ve always been fascinated by it. It has this rich history that inspired all kinds of great art, but then it got banned in much of the world a century ago and there’s always this desire for things that we cannot have. The book is part history lesson about the absinthe story and part true crime novel about this forger that was creating and selling what he alleged were highly sought after expensive pre-ban bottles of absinthe. Evan describes this entire absinthe underground that exists, this community of enthusiasts who want to taste history, and how actual lost bottles are occasionally being tracked down and being rediscovered in chateaus and estate sales. It’s a great read and I highly suggest getting a copy.

For a bit of a background to listeners, I just met Evan in person for the first time last week in Prague and we met up for beers a couple of times. I was there for a food writing conference at the restaurant Alma, which was really great and I spoke about food media and presented some ideas from my next book, set in the Amazon. You’ll hear more about that when it gets closer to publication, which is still a long time away.

Click here to buy The Absinthe Forger: A True Story of Deception, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Dangerous Spirit.

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