The Absinthe Frappé turns a licorice-bright spirit into a long, frothy refresher, its anise and green herbs loosened by crushed ice and a splash of soda until the glass frosts over. A whisper of syrup softens absinthe's bitter edge without tipping it into sweetness, so it drinks herbaceous, faintly sugared and bracingly cold, with an optional sprig of mint to lift the nose.
Garnish: Mint Sprig
shaken · Highball · Crushed
add
Combine absinthe and simple syrup in a shaker with crushed ice.
shake
Shake briskly until the shaker frosts over and the mixture is well-chilled and aerated.
build
Pour the contents, ice and all, into a chilled highball glass packed with fresh crushed ice.
top
Top with chilled soda water and stir gently to combine.
garnish
Garnish with a mint sprig.
The drink belongs to the Old Absinthe House in New Orleans, where it sold so well that Cayetano Ferrer, a Catalan from Barcelona who began tending bar there around 1870, christened the barroom the Absinthe Room in 1874. Popular retellings go further and make Ferrer its inventor that same year, but the record more securely treats the frappé as a house tradition kept by the bar and the Ferrer family. It served as a morning pick-me-up across the city until absinthe was outlawed and the drink went underground, and Stanley Clisby Arthur later set down the house method in Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix Them — shaved ice, a spoonful of syrup, absinthe and charged water, worked with a barspoon until the glass frosted.