Ernest Hemingway – Chasing Phantoms

Once a year around this time I break out the absinthe. And then, after having a drink, I put the bottle away in disgust until the next year.

Attentive readers will recall my review of absinthe in 2022. That was straight absinthe which I drank via the”Bohemian” method. It wasn’t terrible.

The real attraction of absinthe is not the flavor (which is rather foul), but the appearance, the lore, and the association with the likes of Edgar Allan Poe and Oscar Wilde. Let’s take them one by one:

Absinthe is characterized by a bright green color, which is imparted from chlorophyll in its constituent herbs. It’s an otherworldly color which is perfect for Halloween.

Absinthe was popular among artists and other members of society’s fringe in the 19th century. It was considered the LSD of its day. Many claimed that the drink was highly addictive and promoted hallucinations and even, eventually, insanity. This led to its being banned in Europe and the US. Interestingly, this prohibition wasn’t lifted until 2007.

Absinthe is associated with some famous offbeat characters. It’s said that the drink was responsible for Van Gogh’s ear-lopping incident. It’s also said to have inspired some of Edgar Allan Poe’s more outre tales. (Interested readers can learn more here.)

Absinthe is also associated with Ernest Hemingway, who created a cocktail he called “Death in the Afternoon” (after his 1932 book about bullfighting). Here’s how Hemingway described the drink: “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.” I love a challenge–let’s make five of them!

Conceptual Soundness: As noted above, the mere inclusion of absinthe imbues the drink with Bohemian cred. But the addition of champagne seems an odd choice, especially for a two-ingredient cocktail. What’s more, the name, while perhaps evocative for a Halloween cocktail, seems to have nothing to do with the drink itself. 1 point.

Appearance: In a bit of reverse alchemy, this cocktail takes two attractive ingredients–bright green absinthe and pale gold champagne–and combines them into a sickly viridescent color reminiscent of lime Kool-Aid cut with cat urine. I can’t get behind this. Zero points.

Taste: The combination of brut champagne and absinthe is rather jarring. It’s like sucking on a lime immediately after brushing your teeth with Pepsodent. You simultaneously experience a sickly sweet taste on the front of your tongue while back around your adenoids a sour, citrus flavor is triggering your saliva glands. I haven’t experienced a taste like this since a fluoride treatment I received in the third grade. Zero points.

Ease of Preparation: Combining these two ingredients is simplicity itself. Absinthe might not be a staple in your home bar, though. And I daresay this cocktail might be too simple. There’s no complexity at all. I’ll give it two points, and that’s being generous.

Total Treat Score: 3 points, making this drink the worst we’ve reviewed so far!

Full disclosure: I only drank one of these, so technically I didn’t follow Hemingway’s directions which require you drink “three to five slowly.” If any of you is up for the challenge, please follow these directions to the letter and report back.

As you may know, Death in the Afternoon is the name of a 1932 book by Ernest Hemingway. The title reminds one of an Agatha Christie story. (Agatha Christie wrote a number of books with “Death” titles , including Death In the Clouds, Death on the Nile, and Death Comes As the End.) Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon, however, is definitely not a Whodunit, but rather is a treatise on and celebration of Spanish bullfighting. And knowing that the title is about the ritualized killing of an imprisoned, male cow is definitely a buzzkill.

And yet, Hemingway repurposed that same title (Death in the Afternoon) for a cocktail he invented. It seems that, in 1935, writer Sterling North and a bookseller named Carl Kroch (I’m not making this up) put together a book that featured cocktail recipes from 30 famous writers, including Edgar Rice Burroughs, Christopher Morley, a bunch of people I never heard of, and Ernest Hemingway.

Now, for our purposes, “Death in the Afternoon” is a pretty good name for a Halloween cocktail. (And thanks to loyal reader Marie R for bringing this to my attention.) So let’s make one!

The Recipe: In Hemingway’s own words: “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.”

The Ratings: Well, it’s another green cocktail. Thankfully the color is imparted by absinthe and not by chartreuse. The green is made lighter and somehow more neon by the addition of the champagne, which also lends an effervescence. It’s probably the fault of my inadequate absinthe selection that it didn’t achieve “the proper opalescent milkiness.” In any event, I suppose it’s worth two points for appearance, which is essentially a B- on my grading scale. It’s not especially entrancing, but the color is unusual, and the use of a champagne glass adds a little bit of interest. (It would have been better if I’d had one of the old-timey champagne glasses that you see in New Years Eve memes.)

As for the taste: I really wanted to like this one. Its Hemingway pedigree makes it cool, and the comingling of bohemian absinthe and patrician champagne is intriguing. The first sip was interesting — the licorice of the absinthe added depth and texture to the champagne. But with each successive sip the absinthe became more cloying and extraneous. I couldn’t see how this was an improvement over just a simple glass of good champagne. Of course, the absinthe (at 50% ABV) definitely boosts the alcohol content of the Roederer (12.5% ABV). (How on earth does Hemingway expect me to drink “three to five of these slowly”?!) But if your objective is simply to get inebriated, a good Scotch could achieve that objective with less fuss and muss. I can’t in good conscience give the taste more than 1.5 points. (My wife’s one-word comment about the taste was “Yuck.”)

I’ll give the full 2 points for the name, even though it’s actually a reference to a despicable sport. I’m still trying to imagine it as an Agatha Christie title.

Grand Total: 5.5 points

Tag: Ernest Hemingway

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