Often referred to as the Hemingway or the Hemingway Champagne, Death in the Afternoon combines two quintessential French liquors, absinthe and champagne.
Death in the Afternoon – Photo © Cocktails & Bars
Named after Hemingway’s 1932 novel Death in the Afternoon on bullfighting, the cocktail the author claims to have created is essentially a shot of absinthe topped with champagne. The recipe was published in So Red the Nose, or Breath in the Afternoon, 1935 cocktail book with Hemingway’s original instructions (source):
Pour one jigger absinthe into a Champagne glass. Add iced Champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly.
Death in the Afternoon cocktail is a champagne cocktail that’s not for the faint-hearted. This is a drink that packs a punch. The original recipe calls for 45ml / 1.5oz of absinthe though some modern variation have substituted pastis for absinthe, used sugar syrup or a sugar cube with bitters, or added a modifier such as dry vermouth added to bring down the potency of the drink.
Here is the recipe according to Hemingway’s specs. Try it as is or start with 15ml of absinthe. Either way, in the interests of responsible consumption of alcohol, one cocktail may be more than enough and we recommend skipping the part about drinking “three to five of these slowly”.
Death in the Afternoon Cocktail Recipe
Ingredients
- 45ml absinthe
- chilled Brut Champagne to top
Glassware: champagne flute or coupe
Method
Pour the absinthe into a champagne flute to coupe. Slowly top with chilled champagne.
