dead hemingways

3/4 oz Copper & Kings Immature Brandy
1/2 oz Copper & Kings Lavender Absinthe
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Orgeat

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe. Top with ~2 1/2 oz brut sparkling wine and garnish with a short mint sprig.

Two Monday nights ago while in Louisville, Kentucky, I ventured over to Meta for a drink. Meta opened in 2013 in the space that held an old strip club called Show-n-Tell. Besides repurposing the sign and turning the stripper poles into the foot rails for the bar, the bar's theme is to transform old cocktails into new. Their menu explains, "Meta is a term, especially in art, used to characterize something that is characteristically self-referential. At Meta, we believe the craft cocktail movement is as meta as it gets - bartending about bartending. Please enjoy our house cocktails, and feel free to trace them to their roots by sampling our own rendition of the classic(s) they're inspired by."
I was able to narrow my choices down to two and asked the bartender which one he suggested; when I affirmed that I did indeed like licorice, he pointed me to the Dead Hemingways. Being a 1980s punk fan, the name definitely made me smile so I am glad that he pointed me to that one. Amy Fisher, the drink's creator, later described by email how "it's the love child of a Hemingway Daiquiri and a Death In The Afternoon." Once prepared, the Dead Hemingways presented an herbal aroma filled with anise and mint notes. Next, a sparkling wine and grapefruit sip led into anise and nutty notes on the swallow.