Cocktail Death in the Afternoon

The American writer-journalist Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) spent much of his time in bars such as those of the Ritz hotel in Paris and the nearby Harry’s bar, where he is said to have invented the bloody Mary cocktail. Unfortunately, this turns out to be an urban legend. However, another cocktail is named after him, named after one of his books. Not A Moveable Feast, but Death in the Afternoon (1932).

In 1935, the recipe for the Death in the Afternoon cocktail was published in the cocktail bible So Red the Nose, or Breath in the Afternoon. The recipe goes as follows, in Hemingway’s own words:

‘Pour 1 shot of absinthe into a champagne coupe. Add ice-cold champagne until the whole thing has the right milky texture. Slowly drink three to five coupes of it.’

Image: The Absinthe Drinker – Viktor Oliva