Mixing Spirits with Champagne/Sparkling wine

Beer and Spirits
1

Got this today from our resident Spirits guy, Forrest (who is awesome). I was asking him about ideas on mixing, thought I’d share given it’s NYE… Cheers!

Rum–
Air Mail

3/4 oz fresh lime juice
1 tsp honey
1 1/2 oz gold rum
Shake in iced cocktail shaker & strain/build
Strain into highball glass
Fill with Champagne
Serve in a highball glass

Vodka –
Can Can

1 oz vodka (chilled)
Fill with cold Champagne
Add lemon twist
Serve in a Champagne glass

Gin–
Diamond Fizz

1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
2 oz gin
Build in a highball glass
Fill with ice, Champagne

if you use more sugar it is called a French 75

2

French 75 is the way to go!

3

We stumbled across a Martha Stewart program today – both home from work. Normally I find her hugely annoying but for New Year’s Eve she had a show about foods to prepare for parties, and it was actually quite good. I think it was a clip show. The show started with a Champagne drink starting with a jigger of Mandarine Napoleon in a flute, then filled with Champagne (she used Dom Perignon which made me wince a little) and garnished with a twist of mandarin orange zest/peel.

I liked the idea so much that later I walked down the block – we have two separate wine-liquor stores within 2 blocks of my house – and looked for Mandarine Napoleon. Neither shop had it but both shops had St Germain. I read about the elderflower harvest and admired the bottle and eventually I went back and bought a bottle of that. We are trying that out now with some half decent bubbly (NOT Dom Perignon) and it is intriguing. A little perfumey for my taste but it honestly improves this particular bubbly and I’m not sorry to have tried the experiment. Thanks for the idea Veronica.

Obviously such drinks remind me of Ernest Hemingway’s favorite refresher at Harry’s Bar in Venice – the Bellini. Peach juice and Prosecco. But peach juice is not a “spirit” so I’m off topic…

4

For a while I was experimenting quite a bit with drinks involving vodka, juice, liqueur, and cava. Many combinations were delicious. Sometimes there was liqueur or juice, sometimes both, sometimes a variety of either or both. Remembering how delicious many of these were might get me to get onto another spirits kick.