Death in the Afternoon
Ingredients:
1oz Absinthe
Chilled Brut champagne
Lemon twist
Instructions:
Add absinthe to cocktail glass or champagne flute. Top off with champagne. Garnish with the lemon twist.
Notes:
- The champagne lightens up the absinthe significantly; however as expected, this one is nearly all absinthe with a lightly carbonated back drop of Brut dryness.
- As pictured, Death in the Afternoon has a very murky, milky opalescent color, due to spontaneous oil emulsification from the higher water content brought by the lower alcohol concentration in the champagne. This is called the ouzo or louche effect and happens with other anise spirits. The oils in the absinthe are soluble in alcohol (hence the high alcohol content in absinthe) but not so much in water, thus the oils precipitate out and emulsify giving the milky color famous for absinthe.
- Ok, enough science, give this one a try if you are a fan of absinthe.
History:
Invented by Earnest Hemingway and named after one of his books, this was one of his favorite cocktails. Death in the Afternoon dates back to early 1930s, toward the end of prohibition.
Variations:
Just as most serve absinthe with a sugar cube, you may find that adding some sweetness, either in the form of simple syrup or other sweetener, such as Velvet Falernum, makes this one taste even better. For another variation, which substitutes Green Chartreuse for the absinthe and adds St. Germain to bring sweetness, try my Death in Voiron.
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One Response to “Death in the Afternoon”
[…] champagne cocktails, I have two other greenish cocktails for you to try. The first is the classic, Death in the Afternoon, one of Hemingway’s […]