Hemingway enjoyed his amaro-based negronis. Drink one at his namesake restaurant, Ernest Loves Agnes. Photo via Facebook
To Google “Ernest Hemingway” and “drinks” in the same search bar is to sift through cocktail origin myths, accounts of absinthe-induced party tricks, and recipes created in his honor. It’s also an easy way to get pretty thirsty for a scotch and soda. Hemingway, the hunter, the booze hound, the contemporary writer of declarative prose, turns 117 today. So, if you admire his affinity for drink as much as the novels in which he often described them, raise a glass at one of these local bars.
Absinthe Brasserie
Oh yes, Papa was a consumer of the green fairy for sure. “Got tight on absinthe last night. Did knife tricks,” he said in a letter in 1931. At Belltown’s Absinthe Brasserie and Bar you can try the verdant liquor in flights or as Hemingway would’ve had it: in a glass with ice cold water dripping onto a sugar cube that sits atop a slotted spoon. Just maybe leave your throwing knives at home.
Bottle and Bull
Named for two of Hemingway’s choice pastimes—drinking, of course, and bullfighting in Pamplona—this Kirkland restaurant serves some novel cocktails. Indeed, found here is the Green Isaac Special, which Hemingway describes in his novel Islands in the Stream, “[…]Eddy came aft with the tall cold drink made of gin, lime juice, green coconut water, with just enough Angostura bitters to give it a rusty, rose color.” Bottle and Bull also has a drink named for Hemingway’s short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro. It’s made with Copperworks barrel-aged navy-strength gin and a mix of amaros and bitters.
Ernest Loves Agnes
Tonight, this North Capitol Hill restaurant and namesake is celebrating with a Hemingway trivia night. From 9 to 11, gather a well-read group of friends to compete for some literary prizes. Alternately, sit at the Ernest Loves Agnes bar and sip on a Hemingway daiquiri, here made with white rum, lime and grapefruit juice, and maraschino liquor. A Campari-based negroni or Americano will do just fine as well.
Liberty Bar
This bar possesses spirits older than Papa even on his 117th birthday. Liberty is also a place where bartenders know how to craft a damn fine drink, something Hemingway would surely appreciate. Here you can find something much like the novelist’s writing, a cocktail that is somehow both sumptuous and direct. Death in the Afternoon is a drink and, yes, a nonfiction book on bullfighting—both of Hemingway’s imagination. It consists of absinthe and champagne.
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