"champagne cocktail" news and stories

Oh, the glamor of it all -- painted-on eyebrows, slicked-back hair, ruby-red lips...and tiny little cocktail glasses. Stars and starlets of long ago often included a cocktail in hand as part of their sex appeal onscreen.

In 1930, gorgeous Greta Garbo spoke this famous line: "Gimme a whiskey. Ginger ale on the side. And don't be stingy, baby." We love the fact that one of the first talkie films mentions the makings of a whiskey highball.

Sipping Champagne is made even more fun when you dip a potato chip in it. (Thanks, Ms. Monroe, for that suggestion in The Seven Year Itch). However, we prefer a sugar cube and some bitters and maybe some brandy in our bubbly. In the 1942 flick Casablanca, head waiter Carl serves up more than one Champagne cocktail in Rick Blaine's Café Americain bar. We can't ensure that those cocktails won the film's three Oscars, but they sure didn't hurt any.

With 2010 knocking at our door, our minds turn to Champagne, or at least sparkling wine since the stuff labeled "Champagne" ideally should come from the Champagne region of France. Although it's hard to believe, I have heard some people complain that they simply don't like Champagne. Are you planning on entertaining guests this New Year's Eve who fall into this category? Perhaps try serving them a sparkling red like bubbly Shiraz or a brutish dry Lambrusco. Or just take on the challenge and turn them onto Champagne cocktails by laying out an array of everything needed to make a variety of them.

Chill some Champagne or a good cheaper alternative, like a Blanquette de Limoux from France. Set out some spirits basics like brandy, gin, absinthe, Campari, various liqueurs such as Chartreuse, Pama pomegranate and orange liqueurs like Clement Creole Shrubb or your favorite triple sec. Basically offer your guests whatever tickles your fancy and pleases your budget. Lay out sugar cubes and a spread of various types of aromatic cocktail bitters such as Angostura, Peychaud's, Regans' Orange, any of the Fee Brothers or perhaps some of the Bitter Truth line. Pick out a variety of flavors and allow guests to create their own Champagne Cocktail versions. Set out some lemons and oranges for wedges, twists and spirals. Let folks play. Happy New Year!

A playful Champagne cocktail recipe:

Place sugar cube in bottom of chilled Champagne flute. Dash some bitters on top of the sugar cube. Add no more than ½ ounce chilled liquor or liqueur of choice, which may be shaken or stirred with ice or pre-chilled in an ice bucket or in the fridge. You can also just drop an ice cube into your glass like bartenders of yesteryear would do. Pour a little chilled sparkling wine into the flute to prevent foam over. Let settle and then fill with bubbly. Garnish with citrus spirals, twists or wedges as desired.

References to Champagne drinks abound in old newspapers, novels and cocktail books. Champagne drinks containing brandy and orange liqueurs in the forms of punches and cups can be found in old cookbook recipe collections such as Mrs. Beeton's "Book of Household Management," first published in 1861.

I've seen mentions of Champagne cocktails in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle archives as far back as 1869, the same year Mark Twain mentions the drink in "Innocents Abroad." The first recipe citation for a Champagne cocktail goes back the "The Bar-Tenders Guide" written by Jerry Thomas in 1862.

Champagne during this time was generally much sweeter than today's popular dry style labeled "Brut," which didn't exist on a label until around 1876. Thomas' 1862 book calls for shaking the ingredients, including the sparkling wine, which was surely a mistake since shaking carbonated drinks can get explosive.