Champagne cocktail

A Champagne cocktail is a classic cocktail that includes Champagne or other sparkling wine as the key ingredient. It typically includes a liqueur, bitters, and sometimes sugar.

Champagne cocktail recipe

• 9cl Champagne
• 1cl Cognac
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 Sugar cube

Add dash of Angostura bitter onto sugar cube and drop it into champagne flute. Add cognac followed by gently pouring chilled champagne. Garnish with orange slice and maraschino cherry.

Building a Champagne Cocktail in the flute

1. Chill a Champagne flute well so the drink stays lively and cold from the first sip to the last.
2. Place a sugar cube in a small dish or on a bar spoon and saturate it with two dashes of Angostura bitters. Let it absorb fully rather than run off.
3. Drop the bitters-soaked cube into the bottom of the flute. It should begin to dissolve slowly and create that classic stream of rising bubbles.
4. Pour in the cognac first. This gives the spirit a chance to settle around the sugar and bitters before the sparkling wine is added.
5. Top gently with cold Champagne, pouring down the inside of the glass to preserve carbonation and prevent overflow.
6. Wait a few seconds for the foam to settle, then garnish with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry. Serve immediately, straight up and ice-free.

What it tastes like in the glass

This is a bright, celebratory drink with more depth than a plain glass of bubbly. The sparkling wine brings crisp acidity and toastiness, the sugar softens the edges, and the bitters add spice and a faint herbal note. Cognac rounds it out with warmth and a subtle grape-rich richness. Expect a drink that starts elegant and dry, then opens into lightly sweet, aromatic complexity.

Getting the balance right

Because the recipe is so minimal, temperature matters a lot. Use properly chilled sparkling wine and a cold flute. If your bubbly is already on the sweeter side, let the sugar cube dissolve only partially before drinking for a drier impression. Brut Champagne is the classic choice, but other dry traditional-method sparkling wines work well too if you want a more affordable version.

A little history and bar-room lore

The Champagne Cocktail is one of the old standards of the cocktail world, appearing in 19th-century drink manuals and often cited as one of the earliest classic sparkling-wine cocktails. Its exact first creator is unclear, but the drink was firmly established by the 1860s. It also gained pop-culture fame through its appearance in Casablanca, helping cement its reputation as a timeless celebration drink.

Alcohol-free sparkling riff

For a zero-proof version, use chilled non-alcoholic sparkling wine or sparkling white grape beverage, a dash or two of non-alcoholic aromatic bitters, and a small splash of strong brewed black tea or alcohol-free brandy alternative for depth. Keep the sugar cube for the visual effect and finish with the same orange and cherry garnish.