Welcome back friends. It's Anders. Today we are making a Death in the Afternoon.
I think that's a great name for a cocktail. Death in the Afternoon. Clearly this was created by an author - and it was Ernest Hemingway.
This man liked a good drink, and you can tell because this drink is really strong.
It packs a punch. And I'm gonna make it by the original specs, but I'm also gonna make a less
intense version. Just a more approachable Death in the Afternoon. You know, a little
less death, more afternoon. If you are new to the channel, happy to have you.
Hit that subscribe button and notification bell for more sips, tips, and recipes.
And let's go make a Death...
...in the Afternoon.
To the bar.
[intro music]
Ernest Hemingway wrote the book Death in the Afternoon in 1932. And it's a book on Spanish bull fighting,
and the culture around it. But three years later he uses the name
Death in the Afternoon to name one of his original cocktails, which was printed in the book
So Red the Nose or Breath in the Afternoon.
I don't know what that means, but it had a bunch of cocktails that were
created by famous authors of the time. And this recipe for Death in the Afternoon was very simple.
It was just absinthe and champagne. It was actually specifically an ounce and a half
of absinthe topped off with up to four and a half ounces of champagne.
So absinthe, being a strong spirit, topped off with more booze This was a strong drink - not for the faint of heart.
And Hemingway writes, "Drink three to five of these slowly." I don't know who could drink five of these.
That's a lot. The man was a tank clearly. However I do think that there is potential here to have
a more approachable cocktail to a wider audience. So we're going to try Hemingway's original specs,
and then I'm going to tweak it a little bit just to make it a little easier going.
Not a whole lot of history. The craziest thing was the name of that book.
It is kind of funny how it it finishes with "Breath in the Afternoon." Did they name the book because of
Death in the Afternoon? I flipped through the book actually. Well, you know, the virtual online book.
And there are a lot of authors I didn't know. A lot of the recipes sounded very interesting,
and some of them sounded kind of horrid. Now the booze.
We are going to need absinthe, champagne,simple syrup, and fresh lemon juice.
The absinthe I'm using is Nouvelle Orleans, and the champagne is Laurent Perrier.
I am uncomfortable saying both of those. This means New Orleans, and this is a name of a champagne.
[laughter]
For the absinthe, this is a pricier bottle - which I happen to have, so I'm using it.
You don't have to go all out on the absinthe, but do use one that you enjoy because this will be the
primary flavor profile. If you don't want to do absinthe, you could use pastis and it'll still be very good.
For the champagne, any dry sparkling wine will work. Hemingway called for champagne but
I don't think he cared.
For the simple syrup, I'm using my semi-rich syrup, so it's one and
a half parts sugar to one part water. And the lemon juice - this is just to help brighten it up.
Both of these are going to be just a small amount. Hemingway was actually a diabetic so
he wasn't using sugar in his drink. We're going to. Let's build.
I'm going to start with Hemingway's version, so I'm going to grab a chilled glass,
and I'm just going to add an ounce and a half of absinthe
straight in. And then we can top that off with four and a half ounces of champagne.
So Hemingway says to add enough iced champagne to get the appropriate amount of milkiness
which is called the louche or louche effect - also called the ouzo effect. Most absinthes contain
essential oils that are only soluble in the high proof spirit, so once you dilute that
it gets really cloudy and milky. So we can go ahead and pour it right on top.
There it is. You can see that it's getting cloudy now.
That would be four and a half ounces. Pretty milky. And there it is. That is Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon.
Now for my version. Into a mixing glass, let's take one ounce of absinthe.
Which will still be plenty of absinthe. I'm going to add a quarter of an ounce of simple syrup,
and another quarter of an ounce of lemon juice.
Just a little bit to brighten it up. I'm going to add some ice and stir.
And you don't need to add a whole lot of ice because there isn't a whole lot of liquid in here.
Just a few cubes and we'll start to chill and dilute.
And you'll notice right away once you start stirring it's going to get milky.
And I suppose you could shake it because technically there is citrus in here, but i like to have complete
control over the dilution. Grab a chilled glass. Then we can pour right into the glass,
and top it with the bubbles.
There they are, the two Death in the Afternoons.
Deaths in the Afternoon. Death - I think Death in the Afternoons. Hemingway
and Anders. Cheers!
Think it's appropriate to start with the original Hemingway's monster.
That is strong. That is bubbly absinthe. If you like absinthe.
Man that goes, like, straight to my head.
That is, that is pretty serious - I gotta say. Absinthe is very strong - it's flammable.
This right here, 68% alcohol. So what is that? It'd be 136 proof. Very strong, but tasty. My chest is warm.
Now we're gonna go in and try the other Death in the Afternoon. This is not quite death this is just
Coma in the Afternoon.
That is very similar. That's actually very pleasant.
The ratios are actually the same - the absence to champagne. Only this one is slightly smaller in amount,
and then just a little bit of sugar, and a little bit of lemon juice, and it makes a world of difference.
Az do you want to try these? Yeah I'll try Hemingway's version first.
We should've had you on camera doing that. That's good.
It doesn't taste bad.
No.
It tastes a lot like absent and very potent. I'll try this one though. This one is really yummy and easy to drink.
Maybe good for like an entry-level absinthe drinker. I would agree. Maybe like a step past the momisette.
The momisette is if you are brand new to absinthe and you want to taste absinthe.
Yeah.
Then the next step would be this one, and then six steps later would be this one. If you don't like absinthe...
...I'm sorry. Tune in next week.
If you like this video, like and subscribe. I will see you next time.
Cheers!
Am I breathing fire yet?
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