This time of year is champagne’s moment in the sun. End of year parties, some race with horses and small people in Melbourne; many chances to pop the corks on champagne.
Of course there’s nothing finer than a glass of champagne, but chances are your bar will have ordered pallets of the stuff. You may need another means of dispensing with said stock once the ponies have run their course. Whilst we will always advocate champagne as the knock-off drink of exceptional bartenders, your bar may see things differently and want you to actually sell the stuff.
Here’s three cocktails to get you racing.
Sbagliato
30ml Campari
30ml Cinzano Rosso
30ml sparkling wine
Build over ice in a rocks glass.
This drink hails from Bar Basso in Milan, the city that is home of the aperitvo. Made when a bartender picked up the prosecco bottle instead of the gin, this a wonderfully refreshing – and light – drink to whet the appetite.
Airmail
30ml Angostura 5 Year Old Rum
15ml fresh lime juice
15ml honey syrup (2 part honey mixed with 1 part hot water)
30ml brut champagne to top.
Add all ingredients (except champagne) into an iced shaker. Shake and strain into a chilled champagne saucer or coupe glass. Top with champagne and garnish with a lime twist.
It makes its first appearance in print in the 1941 book, Here’s How, by W. C Whitfiled.
French 75
60ml Beefeater 24 Gin
20ml Lemon juice
2 Teaspoons castor sugar
Champagne to top
Add lemon juice, sugar and gin into a shaker. Shake briskly with ice and strain into a highball filled with freshly cracked ice. Top with Champagne and gently stir. Garnish with a lemon twist and a cherry.
Harry Cradock’s The Savoy Cocktail was first printed in London in 1930 and is most frequently cited as the first cocktail book to print a receipt of the French 75. Craddock’s version simply asks that you pour the ingredients “into a tall glass containing cracked Ice and fill up with Champagne. Hits with remarkable precision.” Of course, being English, gin is the spirit of choice in Craddock’s version.