Absinthe Suissesse

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice and strain back into shaker. DRY SHAKE and strain into glass filled with crushed ice.

Review:

An easy-drinking summertime brunch cocktail. You can make this with green crème de menthe if you're into green drinks but an Absinthe Suissesse is arguably better and certainly less intimidating when made with white crème de menthe.

Variant:

Absinthe Suissesse

History:

The first known recipe for an absinthe Suissesse appeared in Frank P. Newman's 1904 book American Bar - Recettes des Boissons Anglaises et Américaines.

Suissesse
Verre no 2
Prendre un gobelet en argent, reemplir à moitié de glace pilée:
1 cuillerée à café de sucre en poudre,
4 gouttes de grenadine,
2 centilitres ½ d'absinthe,
1 blanc doeuf.
Adapter un second gobele, frapper fortement, verser et passer dans le verre no. 2, remplir avec une ½ Bouteille de soda ou eau de Seltz, server.

Frank P. Newman, American Bar - Recettes des Boissons Anglaises et Américaines, 1904

The Suissesse made its way to New Orleans, where it became one of the city's staple cocktails, so recorded in Stanley Clisby Arthur's 1938 Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em

Suissesse
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pony French vermouth
2 ponies absinthe substitute
1 white of egg
½ pony crème de menthe
2 ounces charged water
Mix the sugar with charged water, vermouth, and absinthe. Drop in the white of egg. Fill the glass with cracked ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a champagne glass in which there is a cherry with crème de menthe poured over it.

Suissesse, a perfectly good French word meaning a Switzerland-born female, lives up to the reputation earned by those hardy daughters dwelling among the rocks of their picturesque land. The Alps are wonderful-so is a Suissesse. If the name stumps you, pronounce it "swee-cess" and you'll make the barkeep understand what you want. If you yearn to mix one yourself, follow the directions given above and find out why some folk call a Suissesse tops in mixed drinks.

Green Opal Suissesse
The Suissesse given above is probably what originated Swiss yodelling. In New Orleans we have a variation of the happy mixture that transforms yodelling into the more American "whoopee!" Follow these directions for an adventure in excitement
1 jigger Greenopal or other absinthe substitute
½ pony anisette sirup
white of an egg
crushed ice
All go into a metal shaker. Shake until the outside takes on a heavy frosting. Bear in mind that one egg white will take care of ten or a dozen portions. Serve in cocktail glasses.

Stanley Clisby Arthur, Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em, 1938

Nutrition:

One serving of Absinthe Suissesse contains 321 calories