Ernest Hemingway wasn’t just a legendary writer; he also drank a lot and even invented a cocktail. It’s a mix of champagne and absinthe, and it goes by the name Death in the Afternoon. This drink joins the ranks of Hemingway’s other favorites, like the Mojito (best enjoyed at La Bodeguita in Cuba) and the Daiquiri (at El Floridita, also in Cuba).
The Story Behind Death in the Afternoon
The first appearance of the recipe dates back to 1935 in a book called So Red the Nose or Breath in the Afternoon. The publisher, Farrar & Rinehart, had the brilliant idea to ask thirty celebrities, mostly writers, to create a cocktail and name it after one of their works.
Some notable entries include Edgar Rice Burroughs with his Tarzan, Virginia Faulkner’s The Barbarians, and Margaret Ayer Barnes with Years of Grace (a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel). Hemingway had the honor of kicking off the cocktail section, naming his drink Death in the Afternoon, after his 1932 non-fiction book about bullfighting in Spain.
A Storm, a Stranded Boat, and a Cocktail in the Making
Hemingway added an anecdote about how he came up with the drink. The story involves five key players: Hemingway himself, Captain Edward Saunders (known as “Bra”), and three unnamed officers from the British Navy’s light cruiser H.M.S. Danae.
At some point, Captain Saunders’ fishing boat got caught in a storm and ran aground. Hemingway and the three officers spent seven gruelling hours trying to free the boat. To pass the time and lighten their spirits, they started imagining great drinks. And it was during this stormy adventure that Death in the Afternoon was born.
Unfortunately, the story is short on details, so we can’t pinpoint the exact date of the cocktail’s creation. However, we know it had to be sometime after January 26, 1918 (when the H.M.S. Danae was launched). It’s also likely it was after 1921, when Hemingway moved to Paris and probably encountered absinthe for the first time. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess.
Death in the Afternoon, The Recipe
So Red the Nose or Breath in the Afternoon uses the jigger as a unit of measure, which equals about 44.36 milliliters. For convenience, we’ll round it to 45 ml. Some sources recommend using a brut champagne (Hemingway doesn’t specify), while others suggest a lemon twist as garnish (Hemingway doesn’t). The choice is yours.
Ingredients
- 45 ml absinthe
- Top up Champagne
Method
Take a champagne glass and pour in the absinthe. Then, in Hemingway’s words, “add iced champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly.”
Garnish
None.
Photo by Julie Couder for Coqtail, location Ceresio 7 Milan – all rights reserved
