Science Of Drink

New Year coming soon. And we need some special for our holiday party. We drink different cocktails year around and for New Year Night we need something unusual and festive. Many people has very good tradition – to celebrate New Year with glass of Champagne or another sparkling wine. Thus I select two very interesting and delicious champagne cocktail for this case. Now we try the Classic Champagne Cocktail and it’s special variation – the Alfonso Cocktail.

The Alfonso Cocktail was created for Alfonso XIII – dethroned Spanish King. The Alfonso Cocktail looks like French creation but first print mention we find in Craddock’s The Savoy Cocktail Book. The Alfonso cocktail is variation of Classic Champagne Cocktail with Dubonnet wine instead cognac.

Alfonso Cocktail

1 sugar cube
1-2 dash of Angostura bitter
15-20 ml Dubonnet Rouge
Champagne
Place sugar cube in the flute and coat it with bitter. Add Dubonnet and fill the glass with cold Champagne. Add lemon peel or twist. Stir gentle and serve.

Original wine in this cocktail is Champagne. It is AOC and it is so expensive stuff. I try this cocktail with another French sparkling wine – Cafe de Paris Blanc de Blancs Brut by Cusenier (Pernod Ricard). The result are pretty good. The Alfonso Cocktail has so sweet, light and smooth taste with some bitter notes. It is very good festive cocktail.

Also I try the original – Champagne Cocktail. This cocktail is very old creation. First mention about Champagne Cocktail is in Jerry Thomases How to Mix Drinks, or Bon-Vivants Companion. The Champagne Cocktail is real cocktail – it consist of alcohol any kind (Champagne), sugar and bitter.

I use unusual recipe of this cocktail from diffordsguide.

Champagne Cocktail

1 cubes of brown sugar
3 dash Angostura bitter
15 ml cognac
Champagne
Place sugar cube in the flute and soak it with bitter. Add cognac and fill the glass with cold Champagne. Add orange twist.

I use Remy Marten VSOP and sparkling wine mentioned above. The Champagne Cocktail is very interesting drink with main palate of cognac and pleasant aroma of orange. It is good way to improve unloved wine :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR my dear readers. I wish you health, wealth and good luck in New Year!

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The Pick Me Up Cocktail from my last post impress me. This post is devoted to some variations of Pick Me Up Cocktail which was found on Cocktail DB. All of this pick-me-up contains champagne, it is very interesting on my opinion.

I.b.f. Pick Me Up Cocktail [wtf the i.b.f??? Internationla Bartender Federation???] contains my favorite anti-abuse remedy – french bitter – Fernet-Branca.

I.b.f. Pick Me Up

45 ml brandy
8 ml orange curacao
8 ml Fernet-Branca
champagne
Build in highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with a lemin twist.

The I.b.f. Pick Me Up Cocktail has so dry taste with herbal bitternes of Fernet-Branca. It is interesting cocktail.

Next pick-me-up contains pastis – another great anti-abuse thing. I use Ricard as usualy.

Pick Me Up Hiball

60 ml brandy
8 ml orange curacao
8 ml fresh orange juice
8 ml pastis
champagne
Shake brandy, liqueur and juice with ice and strain into highball glass filled with ice. Fill with champagne and float pastis.

The taste of Pick Me Up Hiball cocktail is so dry too. It is real buzz :)

The Harry’s Pick Me Up was invented by famous Harry McElhone on 1925.

Harry’s Pick Me Up

45 ml brandy
15 ml grenadine
30 ml fresh lemon juice
champagne
Build brandy, juice and syrup in a highball glass and stir. Fill the champagne.

The Harry’s Pick Me Up Cocktail has sweet and sour refreshing taste. Admirable cocktail.

Cocktail Bellini was invented by Giuseppe Cipriani – head bartender of famous Harry’s Bar in Venice Italy. This cocktail is simple and beauty composition of fresh peach juice and sparkling wine.

Bellini

50 ml fresh peach juice
150 ml dry sparkling wine (white)
Build in flute. Garnish with piece of peach.

It is amazing cocktail! Usually I add a pinch of powdered sugar for perfect balanced drink.

Champagne, or sparkling wine, is a great, admirable drink. Thank you, GOD, for such thing as champagne!

Now we imbibe with two great champagne cocktails - Death in the afternoon (for
boys) and Mimosa (for girls).

Death in the Afternoon

30 ml pastis (Pernod)
Fill glass with well chilled champagne.
Champagne glass.

Mimosa

10 ml orange liqueur (like Cointreau or better Grand Marnier, but I use Naranjas by Teichenne)
Fill glass on half with the orange fresh.
Fill glass with well chilled champagne.
Champagne glass.

Admirable!