Champagne Cocktail
Origin
Jerry Thomas · 1862
First published in Jerry Thomas's How to Mix Drinks (1862), one of the ten cocktails in the original landmark guide. Earlier mentions of 'Champagne cock-tails' exist (e.g. Robert Tomes's 1855 Panama Railroad account), but Thomas's recipe is canonical.
A sugar cube, a few drops of bitters, and cold brut champagne — celebratory and absurdly simple.
Ingredients
- 1 sugar cube
- 3 dashes Angostura Bitters
- 4–5 oz cold brut Champagne
- Lemon peel
Instructions
- Place the sugar cube in a chilled flute.
- Saturate the cube with the bitters.
- Slowly top with cold champagne — the cube will fizz and sink gradually.
- Express a lemon peel over the glass and drop it in.
Tips
- Use a dry brut — sweeter sparkling wines turn cloying with the sugar.
- Don't stir; the slow dissolution of the cube is the whole point.
Related guides
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The small bottles that turn liquor into a cocktail — what each bitter and modifier does, and what to buy.
Champagne and Sparkling Decoded
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