Leave it to Ernest Hemingway to create a cocktail that’s equal parts poetic and dangerous. The Death in the Afternoon is a bold yet elegant blend of just two ingredients: absinthe and Champagne. First published in a 1935 cocktail book alongside Hemingway’s recommendation to “drink three to five slowly,” this drink is herbal, effervescent, and unapologetically boozy. The louche effect from the absinthe gives it an eerie, opalescent glow—like a toast from the other side.