Those who simply worship at the proverbial feet of Champagne often speak out regarding the ‘sacrilegious’ practice of tainting the beverage with other flavors, but it really cannot be denied that Champagne cocktails are some of the most mouth-watering and refreshing creations ever to be served in a perfectly chilled glass.
Champagne cocktails have the unique potential to transform any occasion into something entirely more extravagant, therefore the following comprises a brief introduction to some of the most popular recipes. Of course, one of the most beautiful aspects of such cocktail making is the fact the even budget Champagne will usually fit the bill just perfectly!
Mimosa
One of the best known Champagne cocktails all across the globe. Famously sipped with breakfast, and don’t be shy to treat yourself to Desayunos a domicilio, it is also the brunch beverage choice of socialites and ladies of leisure the world over. The Mimosa is comprised of Champagne and orange juice to a ration defined differently by each and every drinker the world over.
Some people even add cranberry, pineapple, pomegranate or grapefruit juice. Even more fancy, is a few pieces of chopped strawberries or blueberries.
Green Tea Champagne
You may start your day with a delicious Matcha Latte, but did you know that you can also make a stunning champagne cocktail using Matcha Tea.
Ingredients:
- 4 ounces (1/2 cup) hot water
- 3 teaspoons matcha powder
- 3 teaspoons honey
- 8 mint leaves
- 8 ounces (1 cup) dry Champagne
- Garnish: lime twists
Procedure:
Whisk together the first 3 ingredients until the matcha powder dissolves completely. Let it cool.
Place and muddle the mint leaves in the bottom of the cocktail shaker.
Add the previously mixed matcha blend and fill the shaker with ice
Shake for 25- 30 seconds.
Strain into 2 Champagne flutes.
Top up with Champagne as needed.
Add lime garnish.
B2 C2 Cocktail
The story goes that American troops advancing through Germany in 1945 stumbled on a wine merchant’s premises, and cobbled together their own cocktail from whatever came to hand. The name refers of course to the initials of the four ingredients.
Ingredients:
1 measure / 1½ tbsp brandy (cognac)
1 measure / 1½ tbsp Benedictine
1 measure / 1½ tbsp Cointreau
4 measures / 6 tbsp well-chilled champagne
Procedure:
Add the ingredients in this order to a large wine goblet. No garnish is necessary.
Blackberry and Champagne Crush
This sparkling blend makes a good brunch alternative to Buck’s Fizz. For a party, divide the blackberry puree among six glasses and top up with champagne. This recipe, though, is just for two.
Ingredients:
175g / 6oz blackberries
15ml / 1 tbsp icing (confectioners) sugar
30ml / 2 tbsp cognac
250ml / 8fl oz champagne or sparkling wine, chilled
Procedure:
Puree the blackberries in a food processor. Push the puree through a sieve, and then add the sugar. Pour the brandy into two glasses. Return the blackberry puree to the food processor, add the sparkling wine and blend for no more than two or three seconds. Pour into the glasses and serve immediately.
Bocuse Special
This recipe was created by the French master-chef Paul Bocuse at his restaurant in the south of France.
Ingredients:
½ measure / 2 tsp creme de cassis
½ measure/2 tsp creme de framboise
champagne
Procedure:
Mix the liqueurs together with ice in a small pitcher until well-chilled. Strain into a flute glass, and top up with champagne. Drop a raspberry into the glass if you have one to hand.
Buck’s Fizz Cocktail
Hugely popular In the 1980s, Buck’s Fizz is a simple mixture of two-thirds champagne to one-third orange juice; it is not half and half, as is often suggested. It is a 1920s recipe invented at a club called Buck’s in London. Some recipes add ¼ measure / 1 tsp grenadine to it, to deepen the colour, but it isn’t necessary. It is best served in flute glasses, but you can use a large wine goblet instead if you want to appear more generous.
Champagne Cocktail
The original champagne cocktail probably dates from the 19th century, but nobody appears to know precisely when, or on which side of the Atlantic, it was first invented. It certainly makes a change from serving champagne straight, but I would only use a relatively inexpensive, non-vintage wine. As a rule, the very best stuff should never be mixed.
Ingredients:
1 sugar cube
2 clashes Angostura bitters
¼ measure / 1 tsp cognac
champagne
Procedure:
Drop the sugar cube into a champagne flute, and add the Angostura, rolling the sugar lump to soak it. Pour in the brandy, and then top the glass up with freshly opened champagne.
Champagne Charlie
Thought to be named directly after the legendary Charles-Camille Heidseick himself who first put his name to Champagne back in 1851, this cocktail is a subtle, fruity combination of Champagne and a dash of apricot brandy.
Emma Peel
This delightfully refreshing cocktail is comprised of cherry brandy, pineapple juice and a liberal dousing of Champagne. The two adding ingredient combine to create a dusky pink hue and sublimely fruity flavor.
The one element all good Champagne cocktail have in common is that the additional ingredients are used sparingly and subtly, thereby allowing the wonderful flavor of the Champagne to remain the most dominant and truly stand out. Quite simply any fruit flavors, liqueurs and combinations thereof can be used to create new and exciting beverages.
Indeed, it is worth bearing in mind that some of the most famous and cherished cocktail the world over came about entirely be accident, therefore why not let your imagination run wild and find out just what you might be capable, of concocting?
Kir Royale
Undoubtedly one of the most widely known and popular of all Champagne cocktails is the Kir Royale, which is made by adding a little crème de cassis (blackcurrant liquer) to Champagne in order to provide a delightful fruitiness and a subtle, unmistakable pink hue.
Marilyn Monroe Champagne Cocktail
The drink named in honour of one of the great screen sirens of all time should really be made not just with champagne, but with the premium brand Dom Perignon. It is fearfully expensive, though. Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial, made by the same house, might suffice instead.
Ingredients:
4 measures / 6 tbsp well-chilled champagne
1 measure / 1½ tbsp applejack or calvados
¼ measure / 1 tsp grenadine
champagne
Procedure:
Add all the ingredients to a champagne saucer, and give the drink the gentlest of stirs. Garnish with a couple of cocktail cherries.
Mustique Cocktail
This rum drink was invented on the Caribbean island of Mustique.
Ingredients:
1 measure / 1½ tbsp light rum
1 measure / 1½ tbsp orange juice
½ measure / 2 tsp lemon juice
¼ measure / 1 tsp grenadine
champagne or sparkling wine
Procedure:
Shake all but the last ingredient with ice, and strain into a large wine glass. Top with fizz, and garnish with a half-slice of lemon.
Night and Day Cocktail
This is an elegant recipe full of complementary flavours. The mixture should not be stirred, so that the layers of different drinks come at the drinker one by one.
Ingredients:
3 measures / 4½ tbsp champagne or sparkling wine
¾ measure / 3 tsp cognac
½ measure / 2 tsp Grand Marnier
¼ measure / 1 tsp Campari
champagne
Procedure:
Add the ingredients in this order to a large wine goblet filled with crushed ice.
Operator Cocktail
Another low-alcohol preparation, Operator is to my mind a rather more satisfying drink than basic Spritzer, although along the same lines. At least it tastes of something.
Ingredients:
2 measures / 3 tbsp dry white wine
2 measures / 3 tbsp sparkling ginger ale
¼ measure / 1 tsp lime juice
champagne
Procedure:
Half-fill a rocks glass with cracked ice, and then add alt the ingredients. Stir, and garnish with a slice of lime.
Pizzetti Champagne Cocktail
This charming cocktail was created at a hotel in the Cortina region of Italy, and its name literally means “little pizzas”. You work it out.
Ingredients:
1 measure / 1½ tbsp cognac
2 measures / 3 tbsp orange juice
2 measures / 3 tbsp grapefruit juice
champagne or sparkling wine
Procedure:
Shake the first three ingredients well with ice, and strain into a chilled wine goblet. Top up with champagne or sparkling wine, and stir gently. Garnish with a cherry.
Royal Silver Cocktail
A sparkling wine cocktail should always look grand, and this one benefits from the frosted red rim given to the glass.
Ingredients:
½ measure / 2 tsp Poire William
½ measure / 2 tsp Cointreau
1½ measures / 6 tsp pink grapefruit juice
champagne or sparkling wine
Procedure:
Frost the rim of a large wine goblet by dipping it into grenadine and then caster (superfine) sugar. Shake the first three ingredients well with ice, and strain into the prepared glass. Top up with champagne or sparkling wine, and garnish with a chunk of ripe pear and a half-slice of orange on a cocktail stick.
Southern Champagne
This is how they like a champagne cocktail in the southern states of America.
Ingredients:
1 measure / 1½ tbsp Southern Comfort
dash Angostura bitters
ice-cold champagne or sparkling wine
Procedure:
Add the liqueur and bitters to a champagne flute. Mix briefly and top up with champagne or sparkling wine. Squeeze a small twist of orange rind over the drink, and then drop it into the glass.
Sparkling Peach Melba
This refreshing fruit fizz is an excellent choice for summer celebrations. As with most soft fruit recipes, its success depends on using the ripest, tastiest peaches and raspberries available. This recipe serves four.
Ingredients:
3 ripe peaches
90ml / 6 tbsp orange juice
75g / 3oz raspberries
10ml / 2 tap icing (confectioners) sugar
about 500ml / 17fl oz raspberry sorbet
about 400ml / 14fl oz medium sparkling wine, chilled
Procedure:
Put the peaches in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for a minute, then drain and peel off the 1 skins. Cut the fruit in half and remove the stones. Chop the peach halves roughly, and puree them with the orange juice in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a bowl.
Put the raspberries in the blender with the icing sugar, and process until smooth. Press the raspberry puree through a sieve into a separate bowl. Chill both purees for at least an hour.
Spoon the chilled peach puree into four tall glasses. Add scoops of sorbet to fill the glasses. Spoon the raspberry puree around the sorbet. Top up each glass with sparkling wine. Garnish with mint sprigs.
Spritzer Cocktail
The most famous white wine cocktail is this simple fizzy creation. Everyone who drinks spritzers seems to have his or her own preferred proportions, but this recipe should be reliable. The point is that the drink is lower in alcohol than a standard glass of wine.
Ingredients:
3 measures / 4½ tbsp dry white wine
4 measures / 6 tbsp soda water
Procedure:
Half-fill a highball glass with cracked ice, and add the wine and soda. Garnish with mixed berries if you like, but the drink doesn’t really need them
More Information:
Read more in the book “Let’s Get Fizzical: More than 50 Bubbly Cocktail Recipes with Prosecco, Champagne, and Other Sparkling Wines“