Along with his telling roll of novels , poems and journalistic efforts , Ernest Hemingway is also known and regarded for his tumultuous lifelong intimacy with alcohol . While we have intercourse that he never drank while he was writing ( “ Have you ever heard of anyone who pledge while he worked ? You ’re cerebrate of Faulkner . He does sometimes — and I can tell mightily in the middle of a page when he ’s had his first one . ” ) , his novels are littered with references to cocktails and drinking — and Papa , as he was dearly know among friends , toast well . Most of the prison term .
After scouring the interwebs and books for clues to Hemingway ’s many boozing habits andquotes , we were impressed with the wealth of cognition this singular humanity had on the subject — not to cite some of his bizarre method acting . Here are a few of the most noted dos and don’ts of his drinking vocation . Proceed with caution and an open mind .
DO Experiment and Travel Often
Hemingway was a prolific drinker . As documented by Philip Greene in his templet on what , when and where Hemingway drank , To Have and Have Another , the globetrotting author drank Daiquiris in Cuba , Gin & Coconut Water in Key West , Bloody Marys in Paris . His advice : “ Do n’t annoy with church building , government buildings or city square . If you want to make out about a culture , drop a night in its bars . ”
DON’T Drink a Whole Bottle in One Sitting
Anyone familiar with Hemingway ’s drinking habits knows that he was particularly skilled at exaggerate it — and often . There are write up of him drinking near a nursing bottle ’s Charles Frederick Worth of rum in Daiquiris over the course of one Clarence Shepard Day Jr. at the bar , cook Martinis by the pitcherful and various other overweening exploits . But you ’re not Ernest Hemingway . So , tope by the meth rather than the pitcher .
Hemingway like his drinkscold — stress on the C - group O - L - D. Over the course of his drinking career he devised a brilliant hack for keeping his Martinis optimally chilled . In a alphabetic character to his newspaper publisher Charles Scribner in 1947 , Hemingway detail his method acting : “ We have real Gordon ’s Gin at 50 bucks a case and material Noilly Prat and have found a means of making shabu in the mystifying - freeze in tennis ball tubes that come out 15 degree below zero and with the glasses frozen too makes the coldest martini in the public . ”
We test the lawn tennis ballock subway theory and — even though we did n’t take the methamphetamine ’s temperature — we can say that the tube - mould crank can keep any pitcher drink cold for at least a couple of time of day . Just be sure to cut off the more narrow bit at the top of the subway system and launch the outside of the tube under warm H2O for a few instant for easy meth extraction . Paired with a frozen glass and flash-frozen cocktail onions ( Hemingway ’s preferred garnish ) , your Martinis will promptly reach chilly sub - zero temperatures .
DON’T Skip the Sugar
Hemingway did not like sugary drinks . Earlier in his life , he quash them simply out of predilection , while , later on in living , diabetes fill by the option completely . There ’s nothing wrong with eschewing sugary drinks , but going entirely without sugar in a cocktail is crazy — peculiarly if that drink falls into the sour family .
One of the more well - eff gelt - free drinks he enjoyed from time to meter was the Papa Doble . His version include near four Panthera uncia of white rum , the juice of two hydrated lime and a whole grapefruit , served in a goblet . Some report also include six drops of maraschino liqueur — just enough to give the illusion of balance . Hemingway could drink up to six of these per sit and once even lay claim to down an stupefying 17 double Daiquiris one afternoon .
If you observe yourself want to conduct Hemingway ’s Daiquiri drinking effort , skip over Papa ’s formula and go for the modern reincarnation , which , gratefully , is made with enough maraschino and simple syrup to give it more than an deception of balance — and , please , do n’t examine to drink 17 .
DO Champagne, Champagne, Champagne
Not only did Hemingway routinely enjoy Champagne Cocktails ( champagne with a bitters - sop sugar third power ) , he also liked to top unexpected spirits with the clobber . One of the most notable deglutition he helped fabricate the 1930s was the Death in the Afternoon , an easy mix of one - and - a - one-half parts absinthe to four contribution Champagne . Despite its ingenuous minty chromaticity , it pack a punch — especially when you postdate Hemingway ’s lede and put down five in a dustup .
Later on , during the ‘ 50s , when Hemingway ’s wellness was in needlelike diminution , his Doctor of the Church told him to consist off the booze — which meant cut back to just a liter of wine-colored per day , along with one cocktail . As Greene notes in his book , a diagram for a drink Hemingway often imbibed during this menstruation was , strangely — or appropriately — found in a single file called “ Medical Records—1958 . ” It was a blend of scotch , sherry and Champagne .
If nothing else , take heed of Hemingway ’s advice from a 1950 interview with Lillian Ross : “ If I have any money , I ca n’t imagine of any better mode of spend money than on Champagne . ”
