Drinks

Champagne Cocktails

Ring in the new year with these bubbly libations

December 28, 2012

photo: Margaret Houston

Ingredients

  • Champagne Cocktail

    • Bitters (McConnell uses orange, but you can substitute your favorite)

    • Sugar cube

    • Champagne

  • Diamond Fizz

    • 2 oz. gin

    • 1 oz. lemon juice

    • 1 tbsp. powdered sugar

    • 1 egg white

    • 3-4 oz. champagne

  • Seelbach

    • 1 oz. Old Forester bourbon

    • 1/2 oz. Cointreau liqueur

    • 4 dashes Peychaud's bitters

    • 3 dashes Angostura bitters

    • Champagne

  • Old Cuban

    • 1 1/2 oz. aged rum, like Flor de Caña

    • 3/4 oz. lime juice

    • 3/4 oz. simple syrup

    • 4-5 fresh mint leaves

    • 2 dashes Angostura bitters

    • 3 oz. champagne

Preparation

  1. For the Champagne Cocktail:

    Douse sugar cube in bitters, drop in the bottom of a coupe glass, and top with champagne. As the drink sits, the sugar will dissolve and release the bitters, changing the flavor.

  2. For the Diamond Fizz:

    Place all ingredients but champagne in a shaker glass. Shake without ice to combine the ingredients and emulsify the egg white. Add ice, shake the hell out of it, then shake it some more. Strain mixture into a Collins glass with fresh ice and top with champagne.

  3. For the Seelbach:

    Stir together the bourbon, Cointreau, and bitters in a chilled champagne flute. Top with champagne and garnish with a long twist of orange peel.

  4. For the Old Cuban:

    In a shaker, combine all ingredients except champagne. Add ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a champagne flute. Top with champagne and garnish with a fresh mint sprig.

Champagne Cocktail and Diamond Fizz cocktail recipes from Jayce McConnell of Edmund’s Oast in Charleston, South Carolina

Seelbach cocktail recipe from Blake Borah of the Oakroom at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky

Old Cuban cocktail recipe from Jerry Slater, formerly of H. Harper Station, in Atlanta, Georgia

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