Champagne Cocktail
Ingredients:
Chilled Brut champagne
1 sugar cube
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
Long lemon twist
Instructions:
Put the sugar cube on a small plate, then top it with the bitters. Fill a champagne flute nearly full with champagne. Drop the bitters soaked cube into the flute and top off with champagne if needed. Garnish with the lemon twist.
Notes:
- The Champagne Cocktail maintains the champagne as the dominant flavor, but accentuates the bubbly with the added ingredients, resulting in a slightly more bitter taste with citrus accents.
- A decent champagne is recommended for this one, such as Veuve Clicquot Yellow label or other similar champagne; however, any champagne you like on it’s own will do fine.
- The bitters soaked cube also makes a more impressive presentation when initially served as bubbles of champagne eminate from the cube at the bottom of the glass.
- The long lemon twist adds just a final highlight to this beautiful cocktail. Try it at New Years Eve (or anytime you’re in the mood for champagne) for a change of pace.
History:
The champagne cocktail dates back to the mid 1800s by most accounts. Jerry Thomas’ famous 1862 The Bar-tenders Guide is one of the earliest and most famous documentations of this drink. Popular among the wealthy aristocrats, due to the expense and prestige of champagne, this cocktail was and still remains somewhat of a status symbol.
Variations:
Switch up the bitters to change the flavor. Citrusy bitters will accentuate the citrus components in the champagne resulting in a fruitier drink, for example peach bitters gives the drink a Bellini-esque taste without the fruit. Also try brown sugar cubes, or switch the garnish. This one is easy to adapt to whatever suits the mood.
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