My SO was at an estate sale recently, and found an odd old bartender's guide. It was published around 1900 and has a number of recipies for cocktails containing absinthe. It appears to have been published by an importer or distiller, and specifies certain brands for the liquers (mostly a brand called "Eagle", which I get the feeling wasn't exactly top-shelf). One was just the common "absinthe cocktail", but some of them are truly odd. Will post a few of the more unusual ones if anyone's interested.

Edited to add drink recipes:

They're from a book titled Twentieth Century Guide For Mixing Fancy Drinks by James C. Maloney. There are some truly odd recipes in the book. Two thirds of them call for abrocotine aka Creme d'Apricot, about half use raw egg whites (a few used raw egg yolks). The author also seems to be inordinately fond of Creme d'Violet, which I cannotgstand (anything with violets, really).

They use some measurements that aren't real common nowadays, and my conversions may be a little off, but not more than a quarter ounce.

Absinthe Cocktail
Fill mixing glass 2/3 full of fine ice
1 piece lemon peel
1 tsp simple syrup
2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
1 ounce absinthe (it specifies Eagle absinthe)
1 ounce water
Shake and strain into a cocktail glass, with a spritz of seltzer.

Restorative
Put a small piece of ice in a champagne glass
1 tsp absinthe
1/2 tsp peppermint
1 tsp pineapple syrup
1 tsp maraschino syrup
1.5 oz. brandy
Top off glass with ginger ale.

Morning Glory Fizz
Fill Mixing glass 3/4 with fine ice. Mix 3 or 4 dashes absinthe in a little water then add
3 dashes lime juice
4 of 5 dashes lemon juice
1 tablespoonful powdered sugar
White of 1 egg
2 oz whisky
Shake and strain into cocktail glass, top glass wtih seltzer or mineral water.

Dewey Punch
In a sherry glass mix
1 oz absinthe
Yolk of 1 egg
1 oz Eau d'Or (a spiced citrus and anise liqueur similar to Goldwasser, a recipe to recreate it it can be found at http://homedistiller.org/liqueurs2.htm
Use care not to break the yolk.

Kirschwasser Punch
In a large shaker glass mix
1/2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 or 2 dashes lime or lemon juice
4 dashes absinthe
Dissolve well in a little water, fill glass with ice then add
3 oz kirschwasser (cherry brandy)

English Royal Punch Not absinthe, but it's interesting and includes Arak.
In a medium-sized punch bowl mix
1 pint hot green tea
1/2 pint brandy
1/2 pint Jamaican rum
2 oz curacao
2 oz arak
Juice of 2 limes or lemons
1 lemon, cut in slices
1/2 pound sugar
Mix thoroughly
Add the whites of 4 eggs
Drink hot.

Um, YES!

Just how many Absinthe cocktails are there?

Plenty! The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book give a couple dozen.

Eagle Liqueurs were made in Cincinnati. They basically made a line of various liqueurs for use in cocktails—much like Bols or DeKuyper does now.

Ditto.

I haven't seen a pre-ban era cocktail book since "Jack's Manual".

No, not that Jack. He's, like, twelve, for goodness sake!

Creme de celeri? In that Eagle ad. When was that banned? I mean, I hope it's been banned.

There's always Cynar, the artichoke aperitif:

Creme de Celeri might be good in a bloody Mary.

Hiram, what is this? It looks like an old cigarette ad, except they're not smoking. Or is there supposed to be some subliminal message in the giant weed tied with a hemp rope to a dwarf bottle of something no one in their right mind would ever drink? Or are you purposefully suggesting possible mixers for modern absinth cocktails?

I'm not averse to celery in certain kinds of liquor. I think it would mix well in something like an akvavit. I can't imagine it as a heavily-sweetened syrupy liqueur, though.

I detected a hint of celery in the pre-ban Pernod Edouard. I think it may have come from the fennel—they're related you know.
That's one hell of a bud!! It's a vintage Cynar ad.

I have some Cynar, it's similar to Campari (same company makes it) and makes for a really refreshing drink. It's made from macerating the leaves of the artichoke plant, along with a number of other botanicals. I haven't tried it in any absinthe cocktails yet.

He eats his artichokes so he gets the girl and they're out sailing. Look at the big smile on his face. You just know he gets regular checkups.


Now we're all going to be searching antique shops for a bottle of Eagle Liqueurs Absinthe "A Triumph of American Industry". Who lives in Cincinnati?

I grew up there. The old Eagle distillery was right down the road from my high school.

Trioxin is in Cincinnati, but I haven't seen him around lately.

From the afore-mentioned Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book:

COCKTAILS IN WHICH ABSINTHE IS USED

Absinthe
Ballantine
Brut
Creole
Crook
Dorflinger
Duchess
Duke
Fourth Degree
Goat's Delight
Hearn's
Loftus
McKinley's Delight
Opal
Peacock
Pick-Me-Up
Rees
Robert Burns
Russian
Salome
Sazerac
Sherman
Swan
Third Degree
Vivary
Waldorf

Yep, the dude in the boat has the same smile as bob ( male enhancement TV ad)

Meet Bob...

But the woman doesn't have the same smile as Bob's wife. Blame it on the alcohol.

Perhaps it's all-natural female enhancement.

That is too funny. Guess you never found any old bottles...


The girl on the boat probably doesn't like artichokes. Or maybe she doesn't like boats. Or maybe Bob is on another boat (the one we can't see in the picture) and she's getting worried...

I think the ad is a sequel to Little Shop of Horrors. That artichoke thing is really Audrey II and it is looking on with seething jealous rage at the man, Seymour, and the woman, Audrey, sailing happily along on the boat. Audrey II is planning to ply Audrey I with the liquor in the bottle and then push her overboard, claiming it was a drunken accident, in order to have Seymour all to itself.

Yes, but the look on her face is what really says it all. It's a look of self disgust, as though she's happy to be on the boat, but not really happy about what she just had to do to get there.

She doesn't have to, she's much hotter.

That she is.

And to circle back to the original topic. you can find a lot of recipes for cocktails using Absinthe on CocktailDB.

killjoy. I tried that Artichoke stuff at Zig Zag.

re: Cynar

Love that stuff. One of my most popular cocktails uses it, the "Trident" (which they serve at the Zig Zag, and because of it they outsell all the other bars in WA combined).

Trident
- 1 ounce dry sherry
- 1 ounce Cynar
- 1 ounce aquavit
- 2 dashes peach bitters
Stir with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.


One problem with this drink however is that all of the ingredients are fairly uncommon in the common bar :->


And while I'm sharing my cocktail recipes, and also talking about Absinthe, here is the recipe for a "desert" cocktail that I created for "Tales of the Cocktail" this last year:

Nightwatch
- 1 ounce gin
- 1 ounce coffee liqueur
- 1/4 ounce Absinthe
Shake with ice. Strain into a champagne saucer.

(Although we used Pernod at the restaurant)

I made the Nightwatch not long ago. I just happened to have all of the ingredients in my pitifully depleted home bar. It was very, very nice.

I'm not much of a barman, but that Nightwatch seems like an easy-to-follow recipe, even to me! Thank you DrinkBoy.

Peridot, what absinthe did you use?

Edited the original post to include the recipes. There're only a few worth noting.

P30. Everything else I have that's worth using is down to 4 servings or less.

Both drinks look pretty good, DrinkBoy!

Excellent.

No, it works best in soda.

I've had Dr. Brown's and once you know what your getting "into" it ain't half bad.

I like Cel-Ray,

but I mix absinthe with anything be cold water.

A lot of them involve an egg white.

No thanks.

It's not weird. It's just to make them foamy.

An interesting pre-mixed cocktail from the 1930's.

It's only 70 proof so it's probably not drinkable, but does look nice with the other bottles.

I suspect it's either a bottled Herbsaint Frappe´ or Herbsaint Annisette.

Herbsaint?

No...imagine that!

Another great bottle, Impy.

Gives them an interesting texture.

But, unfortunately, some people are allergic to eggs, specifically the albumin in the egg white. Like my SO.

And news just in ... the Sazerac is the top cocktail of 2006!

Thanks for the link Drinkboy! Very interesting.

Hey Luchog, can you post somemore?

Not much for the elaborate mixed drinks, especially with Absinthe.
I prefer the traditional way of drinking it.
I might try a mixed drink if it's simple enough - like Death in the Afternoon.

Waiting for tomorrow night

All I have, sorry. It was a very small book.

the best absinthe cocktail I know and not the usually mentioned version is tremblement de terre by Lautrec which according to the witnesses who consumed it was prepared by Henri the following way:
10ml of French vermouth
10ml of green Chartreuse
10ml of Genever
10ml of Cognac
10ml of absinthe verte

Unforgettable experience - it is like dying and resurrecting at once From that I have read LAutrec did not mix it and it was consumed in one gulp. Obvoiusly, the ingredients can be changed, Martini bianco instead of French vermouth or any gin instead of genever will do the trick. Enjoy!

But the widely available London Dry type of gin has a distincly different flavor profile than ginever. It may make it less palatable.

Perhaps that cocktail should just be entitled "Death".

Well, I have tried both genever, London dry and here more role is played by alcohol level, as you know genever is not so strong, but both were very palatable, though. The only gin in fact I use for mixing would be Kensington as it is very smooth. As I said, you die, but then you resurrect, simply try and you will see

I love Kensington Gin, but don't know if I would ever use it for mixing, as it has a different flavor from, say, a Bombay Sapphire or Tanqueray Ten, which I typically use for mixing.

For martinis and rocks or tonics, I stick to Kensington or Hendricks.

Bombay the original 47% abv is perfect for Lautrec's petite tremblement de terre:
250ml of Bombay
250ml of vermouth , Lautrec advises to drink it in beer mugs I have tried it several times in very tiny amount (100:100) but three one by one, i.e. with bianco, extra dry and rose and all were excellent

I think I'd like to try this one for my upcoming birthday cocktail. However, I wonder how it would taste if I replaced the brandy with bourbon. We may have to experiment!

Restorative
Put a small piece of ice in a champagne glass
1 tsp absinthe
1/2 tsp peppermint
1 tsp pineapple syrup
1 tsp maraschino syrup
1.5 oz. brandy
Top off glass with ginger ale.

Now that sounds pretty interesting!