I drink to make other people more interesting.
The famed American novelist Ernest Hemingway drank as prolifically as he wrote - or perhaps he wrote as prolifically as he drank. Regardless, he proved himself a voluble champion of all things alcoholic, and helped more than a few bartenders hone their recipes over the years. Having spent a fair amount of time in bars on Paris’ Left Bank, he developed a particular fondness for absinthe, which he showcased in his own intriguing cocktail invention. Simple, strong, but surprisingly refreshing, Death in the Afternoon melds absinthe with well-chilled champagne, and goes nicely over brunch or at sunset - perhaps while digging into the lucid prose of Papa Hemingway himself.
Hemingway named his cocktail after his 1932 book Death in the Afternoon, a non-fiction book that delves into the traditions and drama of bullfighting in Spain. His drink recipe first appeared in the 1935 compendium So Red the Nose, or, Breath in the Afternoon, which featured drink recipes from 30 authors, including Theodore Dreiser, Erskine Caldwell, and Irving Stone.
In the book, Hemingway explains (sort of) the origin of the cocktail: “This was arrived at by the author and three officers of HMS Danae after having spent seven hours overboard trying to get Captain Bra Saunders’ fishing boat off a bank where she had gone with us in a northwest gale.”
Hemingway also gave precise instructions for making and enjoying the drink: “Pour one jigger of absinthe into a champagne glass, add iced champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly.”
Perhaps for some five seems a touch too many, though it’s hard to argue with a man who was tossed by a bull on the streets of Pamplona and was probably the first American wounded on the Italian Front in World War I.
4 oz champagne or prosecco
Pour absinthe into a fluted glass.
Top with well-chilled champagne or prosecco
Some recipes call for Prosecco and no simple sugar, and some call for a sugar cube, and some omit the sugar all-together. Papa Hemmingway was not a fan of sugar - even in his daiquiris - so he did not call for it.
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