7 absinthe cocktails to make at home – which could bring out the artist in you

Enjoy a taste of France from home with these delicious absinthe cocktail

Did you know happy hour, celebrated in bars around the world, started in the back streets of Montmartre in the 1860s? It was known as l’Heure Verte – the Green Hour – to describe indulging in the anise-flavoured spirit, absinthe.

The green fairy, as it was known, was popular with artists from Pablo Picasso to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec who were all seduced by this hypnotic emerald spirit.

Potent in both alcohol content and its turbulent history, absinthe, which became synonymous with the term a ‘mad genius,’ was banned in France, across Europe and the United States for about 100 years but is now seeing a revival.

Today, we can enjoy our own happy hour every day of the week with these seven seductive cocktails courtesy of Crillon Importers.

Mojito Absente

25ml Grande Absente

25ml Cuban White Rum

Half a diced lime

1 teaspoon red sugar cane

Fresh mint leaves

Tumbler Preparation: Crush the lemon and mint with the pestle. Fill the glass with shaved ice and top up with Grande Absente. Stir.

Green Lady

40ml Absente

2-3 slices of unpeeled cucumber

4-5 diced cubes of lime

2 mint leaves

1 teaspoon of red cane sugar, Angostura, Tabasco

Old fashioned glass

Preparation: Stack the cucumber, mint, lime and sugar in the shaker. Add the Absente, 1 dash of Angostura and another of Tabasco; mix and serve in the glass over crushed ice.

Sazerac

40ml Absente

1 piece of sugar

3 dashes of Angostura

60 ml Cognac

Zest of 1 lemon

Absente glass

Preparation: Place the sugar soaked in Angostura in an Absente glass, pour in the absente and Cognac. Add ice cubes and the lemon zest.

L’Amoureuse

30ml Grande Absente

40ml green apple liqueur

10ml squeezed lime

Cocktail glass

Mix the ingredients in the shaker and serve in the chilled glass.

Absente Tonic

40ml Absente

Half a lime juice

Indian Tonic

Tumbler Preparation: Pour the ingredients into a tumbler half filled with ice cubes.

Baudelaire cocktail

20ml Absente

5ml sugar syrup

10ml cream of blackcurrant

25ml whisky

Few drops of Angostura

Old fashioned glass

Preparation: Mix the ingredients in the shaker and serve in the glass over 2 or 3 ice cubes.

Grandeur Nature

40ml Grande Absente

25ml Vodka

5ml lime juice

4-5 citronella leaves

1 teaspoon icing sugar

3-4 slices of fresh cucumber

Tumbler

Preparation: Crush the citronella, sugar and cucumber in the tumbler with a pestle. Mix the other ingredients, fill the glass with shaved ice. Stir.