Absinthe Frappé is an absinthe-based drink that enjoyed great popularity in the late 1800s and early 1900s and was among the first mixed drinks that featured absinthe as a base rather than as a modifying ingredient. See base and modifier. Following the debut of the Absinthe Cocktail in the 1870s, the Absinthe Frappé developed as a simple variation; an 1895 recipe calls for the drink to be made with 30 ml each of absinthe and water and 2 dashes of anisette, rolled between mixing glasses filled with fine ice and then strained into a serving glass and topped with seltzer. (Other recipes call for shaking the mixture or agitating the mix with shaved ice using a barspoon, and many add sugar syrup to the drink, in place of or in addition to the anisette.) After finding some appeal as a morning restorative, the Absinthe Frappé made the leap to popular culture in 1904, when Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough dedicated a song to the drink in their musical It Happened in Nordland; the song “Absinthe Frappé” subsequently spread via sheet music and recorded versions. The drink’s popularity was interrupted by the US ban on absinthe in 1912, though it retained its appeal in places such as New Orleans, where recipes for versions calling for anise liqueurs such as Ojen or absinthe substitutes such as Herbsaint long remained in use. With absinthe’s legal return to the US and other markets in the early twenty-first century, the Absinthe Frappé reentered limited circulation, in some cases prepared with the addition of muddled fresh mint leaves to the mix.
Recipe: Roll 30 ml absinthe, 30 ml water, and 2 dashes of anisette between mixing glasses filled with fine ice. Strain into serving glass and top with seltzer.
Arthur, Stanley Clisby. Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ‘Em. New Orleans: Harmanson, 1937.
Kappler, George J. Modern American Drinks. Akron, OH: Saalfield Publishing, 1895.
Wondrich, David. Imbibe! New York: Perigee, 2007.
By: Paul Clarke
The classic French absinthe spoon, ca. 1890, designed to hold a cube of sugar over the glass so that water can be dripped through it.
Wondrich Collection.
The classic French absinthe spoon, ca. 1890, designed to hold a cube of sugar over the glass so that water can be dripped through it. Source: Wondrich Collection.