An astonishing true crime story about an eccentric grifter who blew up the lucrative black market for vintage bottles of the legendary drink of artistic renegades, absinthe . . .Thought to be hallucinogenic and banned globally for a century, absinthe is once again legal and popular. Yet it is still associated with bohemian lifestyles, just as when it was the favorite drink of avant-gardists like Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh and Baudelaire. And today, when vintage,...

Bronze Medal Winner, Best Book, North American Guild of Beer WritersWhen the ancient brewery in the Czech forest town of Kout na Šumavě reopens, rumors start to circulate about a mysterious brewing book found hidden in the crumbling brewhouse walls. The beer from Kout is so strangely delicious that many who taste it think that it has to be made using secrets — or even magic — from the old brewing log. Enchanted by the taste of Kout lager, Evan Rail makes several journeys o...

Absinthe, an elixir made of alcohol and herbs, is a booming business. 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. 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 relegalized absinthe.Enter a bon vivant who...