Absinthe Frappé

Serve in an

Garnish:

Mint sprigs bouquet

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice and fine strain into glass filled with crushed ice. CHURN (stir) and serve with a straw.

Review:

Sweet aniseed may not sound appealing but you should try an Absinthe Frappé after a large meal on a summer's night before you decide on this delicious cocktail.

History:

Dating from the early 1870s and said to have been created in 1873/4 by Cayetano Ferrer at Aleix's Coffee House, New Orleans, which consequently became known as The Absinthe Room. Today the establishment is fittingly known as the Old Absinthe House.

George J. Kappeler's 1895 Modern American Drinks – How to mix and Serve All Kinds of Cups and Drinks includes two Absinthe Frappé recipes.

Absinthe Frappé, No. 1.
Take two mixing-glasses and fill them full of fine ice, pour into one of them one pony absinthe, one pony water, add two dashes anisette. Turn the other mixing-glass full of fine ice on top of first glass, then reverse the glasses, so as to allow the liquid to flow from one glass to the other. Repeat this until the liquid is very cold, then strain into a fancy bar-glass and add a squirt of seltzer.

Absinthe Frappé, No. 2.
A mixing-glass half-full fine ice; add one pony of absinthe, one pony of water, one dash anisette; shake until ice forms on outside of shaker, strain into thin glass, add a squirt of seltzer.

George J. Kappeler, 1895

Stanley Clisby Arthur's 1937 Famous New Orleans Drinks and how to mix em has numerous mentions of the Absinthe Frappé along with a recipe.

Absinthe Frappé
1 jigger absinthe substitute
1 teaspoon sugar sirup
1 jigger charged water
Fill a small highball glass with cracked or shaved ice. Pour in the sugar sirup, then the absinthe substitute, and drip water (seltzer or other charged water will improve it) slowly while frappéing with the spoon. Continue jiggling the barspoon until the glass becomes well frosted.

This is the simple and easy way to prepare an absinthe drink, one that has many devotees an many lands. Of Course, if you have a shiny cocktail shaker and want to put it to work, you can use it. Shake until the shaker takes on a good coating of frost, and the pour the mixture into glasses which have been well iced before the drink is prepared.

Stanley Clisby Arthur, 1937

Alcohol content:

• 1.3 standard drinks
• 24.62% alc./vol. (49.24° proof)
• 18.5 grams of pure alcohol