frappe , or more properly frappé(e), is a somewhat slippery term (from the French frapper, “to strike”) found in bartender’s guides from around the turn of the twentieth century, originally meaning that a drink is to be served poured over finely cracked ice (i.e., ice that has been struck) or shaved ice, as in the “Vermouth Frappee” found in the 1884 Modern Bartender by O. H. Byron.
The term was most commonly associated with a pair of so-called dude’s drinks, the Absinthe Frappé (first attested to in 1873 and popular across America by 1885) and the Crème de Menthe Frappé (popular by 1894). Since these drinks were often shaken with ice, by 1900 to “frappe” a drink also came to mean “to shake it with ice.” Thus Harry Johnson instructs that crème de menthe should be served on fine ice, but “if you are asked for a Crème de Menthe frappé,” the liqueur must be shaken with fine ice and strained into the glass. Is this confusing? Yes, it is. Our only consolation is that it was then too.
Absinthe Frappé; crème de menthe; and Johnson, Harry.“Hope Springs Eternal.” San Francisco Chronicle, January 31, 1873, 3.
Johnson, Harry. New and Improved Bartender’s Manual. New York: Harry Johnson, 1900.
“What It Costs to Drink.” Nashville Tennessean, June 1, 1885, 7.
By: David Wondrich