Beyond the Mimosa: Sparkling Wine Cocktails You've Never Heard Of

By Food & Wine
Updated May 25, 2017
Credit: Quentin Bacon
From tart, sherry-spiked champagne to a potent punch aptly named Mother's Ruin, these recipes are new takes on sparkling wine cocktails.
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Amer Mousseux

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Two bracing Italian liqueurs, Cynar and Campari, lend this quirky orange-accented sparkling cocktail a love-it-or-hate-it bitterness.

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Cinque Terre

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This bubbly, citrusy drink is named after the famous cluster of five villages perched on a stretch of cliffs on the northwest coast of Italy.

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Hat Trick

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Joe Fee, of Fee Brothers syrup and bitters company, gave Jeff Grdinich a bottle of his new rhubarb bitters in 2008. Grdinich concocted this drink with it. The name is a tribute to Mr. Fee, who is known for tipping his ever-present fedora in greeting.

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Lush

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Atlanta chef Shaun Doty and bar manager Jacki Schmidt created Lush as an aperitif, but it's become a popular nightcap among theatergoers from the neighboring Ansley Park Playhouse.

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Red Velvet

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This riff on the Black Velvet replaces the Champagne with Prosecco and the Guinness with raspberry-flavored lambic, a type of wheat beer made with wild yeasts.

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Sudden Headache

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A girly cocktail such as Sudden Headache is usually served in Champagne flutes whereas macho options like Arm Candy, are served in pilsners.

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Lady Irish

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Sean Muldoon likes drinking this tart, sherry-spiked Champagne cocktail with shellfish, especially shrimp, lobster or crab.

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Marasca Fizz

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Country in New York City offers 50 sparkling wines by the bottle and up to 6 by the glass. For this Champagne cocktail, the restaurant soaks pitted sweet cherries in an anise-infused syrup.

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Kill Devil Punch

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Even more than most East Coast bartenders, Phil Ward is obsessed with traditional recipes, which he learns by heart (he has a photographic memory), then tweaks. He cools his Kill Devil Punch with a block of raspberry ice that releases berries into the bowl as it melts.

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Mother's Ruin Punch

Credit: Quentin Bacon
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Classicist bartenders have resurrected the centuries-old ritual of the formal punch service. Here, Philip Ward makes a potent concoction named after the old British slang for gin.

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