Cheers to the end of a very long year!
Happy Holidays Everyone!
I wanted to get this week's newsletter out earlier than scheduled so that you could have a chance to grab what you need to make these amazing sparkling cocktails to sip in the New Year. I hope you all have a great rest of your year and we’ll be back to our regular schedule in January! Salute!
Thank you for your support and please tag me @drinkswithdane on Instagram or #DrinksWithDane so I can raise a glass with you!
French 75
Named after the famed french artillery cannon of WW1, this is the goto champagne cocktail. Made famous at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris in the early 1900’s being made with a cognac base but would later appear in Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails in 1919 with a gin base. The famed New Orleans Bar Arnaud’s French 75 Bar still serves theirs with a cognac base.
2 oz Cognac or Gin
½ oz Lemon juice
¼ oz Simple Syrup (1:1 sugar to water)
3oz Dry Champagne
Shake the first three ingredients in a shaker tin with ice until frosty cold, strain into a chilled flute and top with champagne. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Classic Champagne Cocktail
First mentioned in the famous Jerry Thomas’s 1826 How to Mix Drinks. This is an old fashioned template with the whiskey swapped for Champagne.
1 Sugar Cube or Bar Spoon Sugar
3 Dashes Angostura Bitters
Champagne
Add sugar to flute and dash bitters onto the sugar. Slowly top up with Champagne. Garnish with a lemon peel.
Champagne Julep
This is a sparking, lower proof version of the classic porch sipper. Bourbon is swapped out for cognac and champagne to make for an all day drinker that won't knock you out early.
½ oz Cognac
3 oz Champagne
½ oz simple syrup (1:1 sugar to water)
1 Dash Angostura Bitters
6-8 Fresh Mint Leaves
In a julep tin or rocks glass, add mint and simple syrup. Gently press the leaves with a muddler to release oil while taking care not to tear or shred the leaves. Add cognac, champagne, bitters and crushed ice. Stir to incorporate and top off with crushed ice. Garnish with mint and lemon peel.
Airmail
First published in Esquire in 1949 edition Handbook for Hosts. This is a Caribbean version of a French 75.
1 ½ oz Aged Rum (Appleton signature or El Dorado 5 year)
¾ oz lime juice
¾ oz Honey Syrup (2:1 honey to water)
Champagne
Add rum, lime, and honey syrup to a shaker tin and fill with ice. Shake until tins are frosty cold. Strain into a Collins glass and top with champagne. Garnish with a lime or orange twist.
Old Cuban
Audrey Saunders is the den mother of the craft cocktail movement. The legendary owner of the Pegu Club in New York City has crafted this twist on a champagne mojito.
¾ oz Fresh Lime Juice
1 oz Simple Syrup (1:1 sugar to water)
6 Mint Leaves
1 ½ Aged Rum (Bacardi 8)
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
2oz Champagne
Muddle lime, mint, and simple syrup in a shaking tin. Add rum, bitters, and ice to the tin and shake until frosty cold. Strain into a coupe and top with champagne. Garnish with lime wheel and mint bouquet.
St. Knut’s Day
Created by Dave Shenaunt at the Raven & Rose in Portland, Oregon. This is a modern aquavit cocktail named in honor of a Scandinavian Holiday, St. Kunt's day, marking the end of the Christmas celebrations where neighbors would go door to door and be invited in for snacks and drinks.
1 oz Aquavit
½ oz Rich Honey Syrup (2:1 honey to water)
¾ oz Fresh Lemon Juice
2 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
3 oz Chilled Prosecco
Combine aquavit, rich honey syrup, lemon, and Peychaud's into a shaker tin filled with ice. Shake until frosty cold and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Top with Prosecco and garnish with a star anise and lemon twist.
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