April Drink of the Month - Sparkling Wine Cocktails

One of the hardest ingredients for me to stock in my home bar is sparkling wine. Most drink recipes that call for bubbly only use 2-3 ounces, and I rarely make enough drinks to justify popping a cork on a whole bottle in one evening. Champagne stoppers are helpful tools, as they can keep sparkling wine fresh for up to one week – but even with this lengthier shelf-life, I often have a hard time getting through a whole bottle. However, few things scream celebration quite as much as champagne, and after a long winter, the impending arrival of spring deserves to be celebrated [editors note: I wrote this post on Monday, when sunlight and 40 degree temperatures got me excited for the promise of flowers and seasonal allergies. We have since had snow here in South Bend for the past two days. What the heck Spring?] With that in mind, this month Bar Kiley will be featuring a selection of sparkling wine cocktails. Perhaps you might be able to find an occasion to celebrate with one of these?

Need to learn more about types of sparkling wine? Check out the excellent tutorial from Serious Eats here.

Lemoncello Sparkler

This is a cocktail I first made to celebrate New Years Eve last year. This drink combines the tart and sweet lemoncello with orange-forward Cointreau and tops this all with 4-5 ounces of champagne. This can be served as a punch or by the glass. If served as a punch, garnish with large lemon wheels to add brightness. But if you are serving by the glass, try adding 2-3 frozen strawberries – the strawberry blends well with the other flavors, helps keep the drink cool, and provides a nice finish to the drink.

 

In a cocktail shaker, combine:

1 oz lemoncello

½ oz Cointreau

Add 2 frozen strawberries to a champagne flute. Shake lemoncello and Cointreau over ice for 10 seconds, strain over top of strawberries. Top with 4 oz of champagne and serve. Want to make your own lemoncello? The recipe is here.

Original Champagne Cocktail

The original champagne cocktail (the name really does say it all) combines two of the very best exports France has given us: champagne and cognac. This is a very sweet drink, and it is a drink that is extremely visually pleasing to construct. Make sure you build this drink in front of people!

Drop a sugar cube into a champagne flute. Douse the sugar with 2-3 dashes of Angostura bitters. Add ½ ounce of cognac on top of the sugar/bitters mixture and then top with 3 ounces of chilled champagne. Finish the drink with a maraschino cherry and a lemon zest.

Pear Bellini

While the Mimosa is the quintessential brunch beverage, my favorite socially acceptable way to drink in the morning is the Bellini. Peach is the most common Bellini variant, but I really enjoy this recipe which combines pear, lemon juice, simple syrup and Prosecco.

Peel and core 4-6  pears (either Bartlett or Anjou varieties). Place the peeled pears in a blender with ¾ cup of simple syrup and ¼ cup of lemon juice. Blend until you have a pulpy mixture that pours smoothly. You may need more or less syrup/lemon juice mixture depending on the amount of fruit you have.

Pour 1 to 2 ounces of pureed pear mixture into a champagne flute. Top with 3-4 oz of chilled Prosecco (not champagne – this is important!) and serve.

You might also want to try out the Veronica Rose again as well - find the recipe here.

Enjoy your champagne cocktails!