30 December 2007
Champagne Cocktails
Ring in the new year with a bounty of bubbly drinks! These sassy, classy sips are bound to add a festive lift to any gathering. And if you’re hosting on a budget, Italian Prosecco, Spanish Cava and your favorite sparkling wines can be just as luscious as the pricier French stuff.
3-2-1…YUM!
Kir Royale
- Champagne, Prosecco or Cava
- ½ oz crème de cassis
Pour chilled Champagne into a large chilled wine glass.
Add crème de cassis and stir gently.
Garnish with a twist of lemon peel.
Kir Imperial
Follow instructions for a Kir Royale, but substitute raspberry liqueur for the crème de cassis.
French 75
- Champagne, Prosecco or Cava
- 1 oz freshly-squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tsp superfine sugar*
- 2 oz gin
Shake all ingredients (except Champagne) with ice and strain into a flute or collins glass. Top with Champagne and garnish with a cherry or lemon peel twist.
*Tip: Run regular white sugar through a few pulses of a food processor to make it even finer.
French 76
Follow instructions for French 75, but swap the gin for vodka.
Bellini
- Champagne, Prosecco or Cava
- 2 oz peach puree
Spoon 2 oz peach puree into the bottom of a flute.
Top with Champagne and stir gently.
Ernest Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon
- Champagne, Prosecco or Cava
- 1 oz absinthe or pernod
Pour 1 oz absinthe into a flute. Add chilled Champagne until absinthe appears milky.
Champagne Cocktail
- Champagne, Prosecco or Cava
- 1 sugar cube
- Angostura bitters
Place sugar cube in the bottom of a flute and soak with several dashes of bitters.
Gently top with Champagne and garnish with a lemon twist.
Mimosa
- Champagne, Prosecco or Cava
- 1 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
Pour orange juice into a flute and top with chilled Champagne.
Black Velvet
- 5 oz Champagne, Prosecco or Cava
- 5 oz stout
Pour stout into a flute.
Gently pour in Champagne so it does not mix, but layers.
Thug Passion
- 4 oz Champagne, Prosecco or Cava
- 4 oz cognac (typically Alize)
Shake Champagne and cognac with ice and strain into a highball glass.
