Death in the Afternoon
A refreshing, bubbly and dry cocktail ∙ Build ∙ 2 min ∙ 14.3% ABV ∙
Death in the Afternoon is absinthe and a little sugar syrup topped with dry sparkling wine, served in a chilled flute.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Pour first 2 ingredients into the chilled glass: Absinthe 10 mlSugar syrup 5 ml
- Briefly stir
- Top with Dry sparkling wine
- Express a lemon twist over the cocktail and discard
- Float rose petals
Tips
- Chill the sparkling wine and the flute well and top slowly; warm wine foams over.
History
Death in the Afternoon is credited to Ernest Hemingway, who mixed absinthe with iced Champagne until the drink turned cloudy, instructing that it be drunk three to five times slowly. The recipe first appeared in print in 1935 in So Red the Nose, or Breath in the Afternoon, a compendium in which the publisher Farrar & Rinehart asked thirty writers to invent a cocktail and name it after one of their own works. Hemingway's entry opened the book's cocktail section.
The drink takes its name from Hemingway's 1932 nonfiction book Death in the Afternoon, about Spanish bullfighting. In the book's headnote Hemingway attributed the recipe's creation to himself and three officers of HMS Danae and described the occasion: hours spent trying to free a grounded fishing boat belonging to Captain Bra Saunders during a gale.
FAQ
What's in a Death in the Afternoon cocktail?
10 ml absinthe, 5 ml sugar syrup, and 135 ml dry sparkling wine.
How do you make a Death in the Afternoon?
Pour the absinthe and sugar syrup into a chilled flute and stir briefly. Top slowly with well-chilled dry sparkling wine; warm wine foams over. Express a lemon twist over the top, discard it, and float rose petals.
Is Death in the Afternoon strong?
Not very: about 14.3% ABV, close to a glass of Champagne. The absinthe brings a lot of anise flavor, but sparkling wine is most of the glass.
Is Death in the Afternoon a good cocktail?
If you like anise, yes. Absinthe drinkers rate it highly for its bold anise taste against dry sparkling wine, but the licorice flavor divides people.
