Percy had always wanted to try real absinthe. There was something about the idea of drinking absinthe that made Percy think of the artists and writers of days gone by; of Toulouse-Lautrec, of Oscar Wilde and especially of Ernest Hemingway, one of his favorite writers. And so on his last night in Prague when he came across a cozy little place called, as if by fate, Hemingway Bar, that just so happened to serve the green fairy, Percy was enchanted. Here was his chance to have a tiny little piece of the expatriate experience that he had heard so much about in his college literary classes; here was his chance to taste inspiration. He waited patiently, watching each ice cold drop of water trickle over the carefully perched sugar cube into the chartreuse liquid below, savoring the moment. He took a sip, expecting bliss, and then coughed, discreetly he hoped. Why had nobody thought to ever tell him this stuff tasted like licorice? Percy hated licorice. Upon further investigation, he realized anise and fennel, two of his most hated seasonings, made up key ingredients of the spirit. Percy took a deep breath and drank the rest of the absinthe and decided to move on to the rest of the cocktail menu instead, which looked delicious. At any rate, he had tried something new, and he was pretty sure that Ernest Hemingway would have approved of his choice to drink rum or champagne, so long as he was drinking in general. Overall, this vacation in Prague had been a smashing success; might as well spend the last night getting smashed.
I don’t normally promote things here (my audience is tiny anyway), but believe me when I tell you that Hemingway Bar in Prague has the best cocktails I have ever tasted. Plus, it’s cozy and has great ambience, the bartenders are friendly and knowledgable, and it’s just great all around. I love it. We spent parts of three of our six nights in Prague here. Seriously, you have to go there. Do it!