Just in time for New Year’s Eve, five ways to drink your champagne.
1. Classic champagne cocktail: place one sugar cube in the bottom of the flute; add a few drops of angostura bitters; pour cognac – you want it to be no more than 20-25% of the whole; fill glass with champagne. This is quite good and the sugar cube provides non-stop bubbles, making it beautiful, fun, and tasty. It’s much dryer than it sounds.
2. Black Velvet: this was invented by a London barman after the death of Prince Albert. The champagne seemed too festive, so he mixed it with Guinness. Pour Guinness, filling the flute half way, then finish off with champagne. I used a can of Guinness with the widget that makes it act like draft. Next time I want to try a bottle of Guinness, as the drink seemed a little too watery. It didn’t quite blend, but I want to try again.
3. Kir Royale: a small amount of crème de cassis topped off with champagne. An easy crowd pleaser.
4. French 74 or French 75*: Vodka and fresh lemon juice (74) or gin and fresh lemon juice (75), finished off with the champagne. I’ve also seen recipes calling for OJ in the 74.
5. Straight up, if it’s actual French champagne. (Yes, I know that’s a redundant phrase.) And if it’s not, I vote for Gruet, New Mexican sparkling wine available at Whole Foods for $13 a bottle, as the best substitute. I don’t have a favorite champagne—I love them all.
Happy New Year!
*Warning: #4 has been known to induce state of euphoria followed by complete emotional breakdown in some or euphoria followed by stupor in others, making them insensible to the former’s emotional breakdowns.
ooo. i wandered into the cake shop once and the bar tender made me a black velvet… but he made it with a black current liqueur, champagne, and guiness. simply delicious liquid memories.
happy new year stella. santé!
These sound yummy! I like to imagine how each one sounds being ordered by some dame from a 40’s movie, and how it would look in her hand. I tried to order a sidecar recently but the bartender didn’t know how to make one. Perhaps my old copy of the Joy Of Cooking has a recipe…
I don’t have a favorite champagne—I love them all.
yep yep.
clink.
or the Andrea Evers…pour yourself a glass of red wine and then have me hit the glass and spill the wine all over you! It is fun…but often leads to distress followed by anger into annoyance.
xoae
i got into a serious black velvet kick after reading that graham greene used to be partial to them.