French 75
Mixologists around the world make this fizzy, lemony drink with gin, but New Orleans bartenders opt for cognac. It's a refreshing twist on an old classic.
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Champagne Mojitos
This puckery drink is prepared with rum and fresh mint like a classic mojito, but New Orleans chef John Besh makes it holiday-worthy by topping it with a splash of Champagne.
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Cork County Bubbles
Mixologist John Coltharp likes making this Champagne cocktail with herbal, woody Jameson 12-year Irish whiskey (made in Ireland’s County Cork).
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Marasca Fizz
For this Champagne cocktail, pitted sweet cherries are soaked in an anise-infused syrup.
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Southside Royale
Bartender Eric Alperin says that almost all great cocktails involve a few fundamental categories of flavor: strong, sweet, sour and bitter most commonly, plus the outliers floral, smoky and spicy (like cayenne pepper, a new drinks trend right now). The flavor building blocks for this champagne cocktail are: gin (strong), lime juice (sour), simple syrup (sweet), mint (floral).
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Platinum Sparkle
For parties, Kathy Casey premixes the first four ingredients in large batches (3 parts vodka to 1 part each liqueur, Lillet and lemon juice). When she's ready to pour, she fills a shaker with ice and 3 ounces of the mixture, shakes, strains into a glass and tops with Champagne.
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Classic Champagne Cocktail
This classic cocktail is ideal for holiday parties and toasts.
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Sour Cherry-Yuzu Bellinis
Jean-Georges Vongerichten's effervescent sour-cherry cocktail calls for yuzu juice (from the bumpy-skinned Japanese citrus fruit) for a citrus kick; a mix of tangerine and lime juices nearly matches yuzu's flavor.
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Amer Mousseux
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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Lush
Chef Shaun Doty and bar manager Jacki Schmidt created Lush as an aperitif, but it’s become a popular nightcap with the hint of elderflower syrup.
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Mirabelle
Chef Trey Foshee prefers using mirabelle plums for this unusual Champagne cocktail.
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Red Grape & Coconut Refresher
Unsweetened coconut water and sliced grapes add a refreshing burst of flavor to this vodka cocktail.
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Bitter Peach
While playing with leftover ingredients one night, Jamie Boudreau combined grappa and peach puree. The mixture was sweet, so he added Aperol, a bitter orange liqueur, then Champagne, resulting in this well-balanced cocktail.
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Sudden Headache
Don't let the name scare you off. Mango is paired with Champagne, tequila and triple sec for a refreshingly delicious cocktail.
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Clementine 75
This juicy cocktail is a riff on a classic French 75, but instead of using lemon juice, Food & Wine’s Justin Chapple swaps in clementine juice. The best part of this drink is that it also makes an excellent mocktail: Use apple cider vinegar and seltzer instead of the gin and Champagne.
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