Mucho Picchu (Death & Co.)

 

This cocktail name sounds like a bar inside joke--a pun on Machu Picchu. I don't get the reference, but it's ingredients are sound, as are most of the champagne cocktails in the Death & Co. recipe book. Unusual for a champagne cocktail, the juice is grapefruit and there are no bitters other than the maraschino, which is more sweet than bitter. The grapefruit twist is both attractive and aromatic with the bubbles coming up all around. 

This is one of the better ways to use Pisco (a grape spirit itself) by putting it in a sparkling wine. The number of ingredients is small and easy to prepare. All that is required is an open bottle of Chandon. 

• 1 1/2 oz. pisco (Capel used)
• 1/4 oz. Luxardo maraschino liqueur
• 1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• dry champagne (Chandon used)
• grapefruit twist garnish

Combine all liquid ingredients except champagne in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled champagne flute and top with champagne. Twist grapefruit zest over the drink and drop it in. 

Julian Sorel (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

For some reason, Julian Sorel is called "the worst drink name ever," in the Death & Co. recipe book. I don't see why, exactly, though. It's named after the protagonist in The Red And The Black, by Stendhal. In my mind, that makes it a bit of a Scholarly French name. And Julian Sorel doesn't appear in the list of staff picks for worst names in "On The Naming of Cocktails" page of the bar book. Good name or no, Julian Sorel is a good idea.

It blends The Last Word with a champagne cocktail, which is an awesome idea--dare I even say "a genius-level move." If a Negroni can be crossed with a French 75, then why can't a Last Word be mashed-up with a classic French 75 with cognac. And it works surprisingly well. Best of all: it maintains the easy-to-remember proportions of The Last Word!

• 1/2 oz. Courvoisier cognac
• 1/2 oz. green Chartreuse (Dolin Genepy used)
• 1/2 oz. Luxardo maraschino
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• dry champagne (Aria cava used)
• 1 lemon twist garnish
  

Combine all ingredients except champagne and garnish in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled champagne flute. Top with champagne and garnish wtih the twist.

 

Kentucky Champagne Cup (Original Recipe)

 

This is a bourbon drink that is based on the Champagne Cocktail. Normally this would be enjoyed in a coup glass with no ice. But what if you want more champagne? 

Peaches are extremely important to this recipe for some reason. I'm going to say that it is because of summer weather and the desire to have fresh fruit with bubbles and bourbon. Anyway, for a simple solution to the persistent question, "what will I drink next?" This cocktail is an easy--no shaking--recipe you build in the glass.

• 1 oz. bourbon (Evan Williams Bonded used)
• 1/2 oz. peach whiskey (Bird Dog used)
• several dashes aromatic bitters (Hella used)
• champagne or sparkling wine (Wine Cube Bubbles used)
• peach slice

Add bitters and whiskies to a large balloon wine goblet full of ice and stir to chill and combine. Fill with sparkling wine so that the ice floats and garnish with the peach slice.

Bubbling Passion

This sparkling wine cocktail is the passionfruit edition of of a Kir Royale! It uses the now extinct la Grande Passion liqueur that Grand Marnier used to make. In this resurected drink, the passionfruit comes through the bubbles even better than cassis, and you can even taste the chocolate notes--not bad for an easy bubbles cocktail.

• 1 1/2 oz. la Grande Passion liqueur
• sparkling wine or champagne
• lemon twist

Pour la Grande Passion into a chilled champagne flute and top with sparkling wine or Champagne. Twist lemon peel over the glass and drop it in.

Prince Of Wales

I was afraid I wouldn't be able to enjoy this cocktail until I had the trifecta of brandy, Madeira and champagne. But I had them all at once in this drink at work last night. Madeira is a fortified wine (sherry) made on the Portugese island of Madeira, It is strong and nutty with a dry wine flavor. It loves being mixed with brandy (cognac please) and champagne, as it is in Prince of Wales.

The primary flavor of this cocktail is orange, however, due to the presence of an orange slice garnish and curacao. The effect is a fizzy sangria that sneaks up on you with round oakiness from cognac and Madeira.

• 1 oz. brandy (cognac)
• 1 oz. Madeira
• 1/2 oz. white curacao
• 3-5 dashes Angostura bitters
• champagne or sparkling wine
• orange slice

Combine all ingredients except champagne and orange slice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled wine glass. Top with champagne and garnish with the orange slice.

King's Peg

Champagne and cognac are perfect together, both being made with French grapes. The King's Peg is supposed to knock you over quickly with that combo of bubbles and brandy.

• 1 1/2 oz. Cognac (Dusse used)
• Champagne (Gruet used)

Build drink in a champagne flute with cognac and top with champagne. 

American Rose

Nothing says American like brandy and peaches. American brandy, that is. And Gruet is an American sparkling wine inspired by French champagne, so it is perfect for the fizz in this cocktial.

America is of course the inventor of the cocktail, and combining French liqueurs and wines into strong spirits like brandy. The trick with this drink is to peel your peach half and dice it before muddling it in the shaker. A wide straw helps to suck up the pulp.

• 1 1/2  oz. brandy
• 1 tsp. grenadine 
• 1/2 fresh peach peeled and mashed
• 1/2 tsp. Pernod
• Champagne or sparkling wine (Gruet used)
• peach wedge

Combine all ingredients except peach wedge and champagne in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into a wine glass and top with champagne. Garnish with the peach wedge. 

Bellini

This is an oldie, but a goodie--at least when brunch is concerned. I made this cocktail for someone at work as a before-dinner drink. The recipe calls for peach nectar, which wasn't always easy to come by in the dark ages of cocktails. I like to add a dash of Peachtree schnaps to up the alcohol and flavor, since there isn't much room to work with when it comes to liquid that fits into a champagne flute.

• 2 oz. peach nectar
• champagne or sparkling water
• dash Peachtree schnapps (optional)

Build drink in a chilled champagne flute with peach nectar and top with champagne.

Mimosa (Pamplemousse Rose at The Source)

A Mimosa is probably the easiest champagne cocktails to make. Just fill a champagne flute half full with orange juice and top with the bubbles.

It also doesn't taste that great, isn't very strong, and is a massive waste of champagne. Just sayin'.

Pamplemousse liqueur by Combier is a fun way to punch the Mimosa up a bit. A half ounce turns it in to a bright and citrus treat (especially if you are using store bought juice--and now I'm wondering if anyone has ever made a fresh-squeezed Mimosa. The thought boggles the mind).

• 1/2 oz. Pamplemousse Rose
• 1 oz. chilled orange juice
• champagne or prosecco 

Build drink in a champagne flute with Pamplemousse rose and orange juice before topping with sparkling wine.

Soyer Au Champagne

Think of this drink as belonging to a dessert class of cocktails. There's ice cream with creme de cassis or cherry brandy added as a topper or syrup. Then you can go all out with brandy, maraschino, triple sec and champagne. Throw a cherry on top for fun!

While you really won't get tipsy drinking these, you will have an excellent dessert. It left me wondering why drinks like this aren't dessert options at more restaurants. It could really make a comeback. The champagne makes a milky foam, and the liquid is sugary and potent. Then the ice cream freezes some of the champagne into sparkly crystals that melt in your mouth. It really is a sensational dessert, if not a cocktail.

• 1/4 tsp. cognac
• 1/4 tsp. maraschino liqueur
• 1/4 tsp. triple sec
• 2 heaping tbsp vanilla ice cream
• champagne
• maraschino cherry

mix cognac, vanilla ice cream and liqueurs together in a chilled wine glass. Fill with champagne and top with a cherry. 

Champagne Cocktail

So simple, it's really brilliant. The Champagne Cocktail is like so many fortified wine cocktails, but with the special distinction that it is bubbly. Much like the Old Fashioned, this drink starts with sugar and bitters and ends with a twist. It's perfect for celebrations.

• 1 sugar cube
• several dashes Angostura bitters
• chilled champagne 
• lemon twist

Add sugar and bitters in the bottom of a champagne flute. Top with chilled champagne and stir. Garnish with a twist. 

Chicago

There are several champagne drinks out there involving brandy (or cognac, which I think was the originally intended ingredient), but the Chicago seems to have almost all of the components of the best of them. It's a pretty cocktail and I'm not sure why it is named Chicago except that it's architecture is pretty classical. There's an ornate sugar rim, a half slice of lemon on the glass, and the lines are very early-20th-century modern in a coupe glass.

There's something fussy and old-style about drinking a champagne and cognac drink as a cocktail, something that seems seldom done since the end of World War II. If you have the ingredients, just go with it. It will make you more sophisticated.

• 2 oz. brandy (Courvoisier VS used)
• several dashes of triple sec
• several dashes angostura bitters
• sugar
• lemon slice
• champagne or sparkling wine

Combine brandy, triple sec and bitters in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a coup glass or wine goblet with a sugar coated rim. Top with champagne and garnish with lemon slice.

Kir Royale

So I'm seeing this drink's popularity on the rise again lately. The unfortunate thing is that it isn't because people are discovering quality creme de cassis. I think it has to do with douchy guys doing douchy things with their champagne. I'm sorry, if you make a Kir Royale with Chambord, it's not a Kir Royale. (I've wasted half a bottle of champagne and very good French creme de cassis on a table of guys who were disgusted with the flavor and kept asking me to re-make the drink, only to find out that they wanted Chambord!)

Good creme de cassis like this G. E. Massenez from Dijon are made from real black currants and have a thick creamy texture. In large portions, it gives a drink the flavor of blueberry pie, with is really great if you want a sweet drink. That's what the Kir Royal is. A pie flavored fizzy drink that is great for dessert but very high in sugar content. Champagne or sparkling wine distinguishes the Royal from the ordinary Kir made with wine.

• 2 oz. Creme de Cassis
• Champagne. 

Build drink in a champagne flute. Top with chilled champagne. 

London French '75'

This is the British version of the classic French '75.' The idea being that gin makes this champagne cocktail British while Cognac would be the spirit of the French originator. The London French '75' is the most popular of the two today as gin is far and away the crowd pleasing clear spirit at the dawn of the classic cocktails revival. Cognac is still the brown spirit that people know least about, except that old folks seem to like it in a snifter or with a scoop of ice cream. That's for another time, though.

The coupe glass is ideal for the French '75' drinks as it holds more liquor than a flute. And that's a good thing too. These old recipies call for 2 ounces of strong spirit, not the 3/4 oz. you'll find at bars today. Be careful when you make this one. It hits pretty hard.

• 2 oz. London dry gin
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• champagne or sparkling wine

Combine all ingredients except champagne in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled coupe or champagne glass. Fill with chilled champagne. 

Bali Hai

What a fun champagne tiki! It's really acidic and dry with brut champagne and all the citrus, but stick with it. The almond syrup and grenadine give it a lovely pink color and flavor complexity but there's not enough to sweeten the drink too much. So this is an example of a tiki that makes you pucker, and a rare one with the kick from champagne fizz.

• 2 oz. light rum
• 1 oz. aguardiente (kirschwasser used--as any clear fruit brandy is acceptable as aguardiente)
• 2 oz. lemon juice
• 2 oz. lime juice
• 1 tsp. orgeat syrup
• 1 tsp. grenadine
• chilled sparkling wine or champagne

Combine all ingredients except champagne in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a grim-faced tiki mug and garnish with whatever fruit you have on hand.

Old Cuban

The Old Cuban is a precursor to the Mojito, and it is made very similarly. It's done like a sour with mint and topped with champagne. It's no wonder it was popular in Paris, where we tried it at The Experimental Cocktail Club (photo below)

• 5-8 mint leaves
• 1 1/2 oz. light rum
• 1/2 oz. sugar syrup
• champagne

Muddle mint and sugar syrup in a shaker. Add ice and rum and shake to cool. Strain into a chilled coup or sour glass. Add champagne to top and garnish with a mint leaf. 

Baracuda #1

This drink is so similar to the Josiah's Bay Float that it might just be another name for it. The ingredients are listed in a different order, but the proportions are exactly the same. For convenience I copied and pasted from the earlier post. I also made it differently by using a lot more sparkling wine and some club soda to make it bubblier. This made it more of a sangria than a punch and I enjoyed it much more.

• 1 oz. gold rum
• 1/2 oz. Galliano
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• 2 tsp. sugar syrup
• 2 tsp. lime juice
• champagne or sparkling wine
• lime slice
• maraschino cherry
• hollowed out pineapple shell (optional) 

Combine all ingredients except champagne, lime slice and maraschino cherry in a blender with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into a hollowed out pineapple shell or hurricane glass. Add champagne (really top it up) and stir gently. Garnish with lime slice and maraschino cherry. (Mine is garnished with a baby pineapple spear.)

Josiah's Bay Float

I've been looking for ways to use a bottle of Galliano since I bought one more than a week ago. If you've ever done the same, you know it is hard to find recipes that don't involve cream because it has such a rich vanilla flavor. More imaginative mixologists have discovered that it works great in tropical drinks as well, and the following are a few of my favorite tikis and punches.

• 1 oz. gold rum
• 1/2 oz. Galliano
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• 2 tsp. sugar syrup
• 2 tsp. lime juice
• champagne or sparkling wine
• lime slice
• maraschino cherry
• hollowed out pineapple shell (optional)

Combine all ingredients except champagne, lime slice and maraschino cherry in a blender with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into a hollowed out pineapple shell or hurricane glass. Add champagne and stir gently. Garnish with lime slice and maraschino cherry. (Mine is garnished with a baby pineapple spear.)

Champagne Napoleon

This one is rich. I recommend using Brut champagne to keep it drier. Proseco is just too sweet.

• 1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
• 1/2 oz. curacao 
• 1/2 oz. maraschino cherry liqueur 
• 4 oz. champagne

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled champagne flute. Top with champagne. 

French 75

The French 75 gets its name from the World War I field artillery pieces that were 75-mm and did not threaten German troops in their trenches. British soldiers who mixed their gin with champagne decided that this drink hits you harder than the French 75.

• 1 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup or 1 tsp. bar sugar
• 4 oz. champagne

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled champagne flute rimmed with sugar. Top with champagne and garnish with a lemon twist.