Death in the Afternoon

Well that was a longer pause than I meant, but let us get on with the booze.

Death in the afternoon is possibly the best known absinthe cocktail, it's credited to Ernest Hemingway, and this is how he tells you to make it :-

"pour 1 jigger of absinthe into a Champagne flute, top with Champagne until the correct opacity is reached."

 I've found that this tends to make a bit of a something & nothing drink, where the anise just dominates all the other flavours. There is a second method though. Soak a sugar cube in absinthe, place in the bottom of a Champagne flute & fill with champagne as normal.
This tends to clean the Champagne flavour profile and although the anise flavour is there its doesn't dominate.

The picture to the right is using Dom Perignon 2000 as the Champagne & la fee Parisian as the absinthe. Its a combination I quite like as it deals with the odd sweetness I find in Moet et Chandon's house style. There isn't really any need to go to these lengths, and I did make this because I could. Any dry champagne will work, and Prosecco can be used as a reasonable substitute (I find that Cava is far too sweet).

So next time you have a hot thirsty afternoon and some absinthe & Champagne indulge in one of these, or maybe 2 but take care, the mixture of the green fairy & bubbles is a heady one, and your evening might end up finishing earlier than you'd planned .