The Champagne Cocktail is a classic, festive, and elegant drink that’s perfect for New Year’s Eve, Christmas parties, or any celebration that needs toasting.
It’s a simple to make yet elegant drink that starts with champagne, and you add a sugar cube to make it bubble and sweeten the drink, Angostura bitters to warm it up with spices, and a citrus twist to give it a little tartness. I’ve made it sparkle even more with edible glitter to brighten the whole thing up!
We appreciate you
This post may contain affiliate links. Life Currents participates in different affiliate programs. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more information see here.
Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask. The comments can be easily found using the orange circle on the lower left, then Join the discussion!
Celebrations
Do you have something to toast? Something to celebrate?
Adding a sugar cube to a sparkling glass of champagne makes a fountain of bubbles that positively sparkles. Top it off with even more sparkles in the form of edible glitter, and you have a sophisticated reason to celebrate.
Brunch, Mother’s Day, baby showers, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, New Year’s Eve, Christmas, holiday parties, Friday night.
Any night becomes a celebration of life when you have this beautiful drink in your hand!
Be sure to buy some edible glitter for your own drinks with my affiliate link. I used silver in my drink, but use your favorite color.
Or, if this is for a baby shower get pink and blue. Or use the wedding colors, or, well you get it. Choose your theme color!
History
This classic cocktail originally appeared in the book “The Bartender’s Guide”. Grab a copy for yourself with my affiliate link.
How to buy champagne
Champagne, with a capital “C”, can only come from the Champagne region in France, which means it usually comes with a high price tag.
However, champagne with a lowercase “c” can come from other areas. This is usually called sparkling wine, and has a much friendlier price tag, and can be just as good.
Now, I’m no champagne snob, but I’ve had some pretty good bottles that were about $5. So, this special drink can be in your budget!
The type of champagne you want will depend on your personal tastes. And you may need to do some taste testing to find what you like best.
“Brut” champagnes are dry and not sweet.
For dry champagne that’s a little sweet, look for “extra dry” or “extra sec” on the label.
“Sec” champagnes are moderately sweet, and “doux” are the sweetest. Often the label will give you a hint as to what’s inside. Moscato is a good sparkling white wine with a soft bubbly quality.
If you have leftover champagne, use a bubble stopper in the bottle immediately and place it in the fridge.
Now, if you don’t have a sugar cube at home, you can still make this drink.
I have a whole box of them. I used to take sugar in my coffee. “Two cubes, please.” But have since given it up. Now I don’t really know what to do with the cubes. I guess I’ll be making lots of these champagne cocktails!
So, if you don’t have any cubes, simply use granulated sugar or simple syrup.
A sugar cube is equal to 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 sugar packet, or 4 grams of sugar.
And if you prefer simple syrup, using a 1:1 simple syrup, you’ll want about ¼ ounce of simple syrup.
Now I will say that part of the fun of this drink is in the cube of sugar. As it dissolves at the bottom of the glass is produces the fountain of bubbles and the fun effervescence that makes this drink so special.
How to serve
Be sure to scroll down to the printable recipe card below for full ingredient amounts and instructions.
Keep the champagne in the fridge until you’re ready to serve it so it’s fresh and bubbly.
The best way to serve this drink is in a champagne flute! They are so pretty, elegant, and they’re designed to preserve carbonation.
If you don’t have any flutes, serve this drink in wine glasses.
Place a sugar cube on a bar spoon and douse with the bitters.
Drop the cube into a chilled Champagne flute or similar glass. Top the cube with edible glitter.
And, don’t stir this drink! Stirring will make the bubbles disappear. In fact, the bubbles will help stir the drink on its own.
What mixes well with champagne?
Champagne is great on its own, but as this drink shows us, it takes well to other flavors.
There are lots of ways to shake this beverage up. Here are some champagne cocktail variations you’ll love!
Mix some Chambord in with your champagne for a raspberry flavored sparkler.
Of course, everyone is familiar with a Mimosa. Just add a splash of orange juice to your champagne cocktail. But don’t stop at OJ, try your favorite fruit juice, like cranberry, lemonade, apple, or strawberry. Just think of all the pretty colors you can come up with!
Speaking of orange, add a splash of Cointreau to your cocktail.
A splash of cognac is another fun twist on the classic.
Party appetizers
This is the perfect drink for serving at New Year’s Eve parties.
Serve them with some delicious New Year’s Eve appetizers like my Pepper jelly cream cheese pinwheels, Blue Cheese with fig & candied pecans, Crab Imperial Appetizers, and Hot Crab Dip.
Let’s connect
If you like seeing my recipes subscribe via email in the upper right.
Or, connect with me on your favorite social media channel for recipes, photos, & much more:
Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter!
And find my shop on Amazon for recommendations on cool tools
If you try this recipe,
please come back & leave a comment below letting us know how it goes.
Share a picture & tag @lifecurrents on Instagram.
Or you can upload a “tried it” photo (I would love to see)
via the pin.
Recipe
Champagne Cocktail
Ingredients
- 1 sugar cube
- 2 to 4 dashes Angostura bitters
- ¼ teaspoon edible glitter sparkles
- Champagne or other sparkling wine, chilled, to top
- Garnish: lemon twist
Instructions
- Place a sugar cube on a bar spoon and douse with the bitters.
- Drop the cube into a chilled Champagne flute or similar glass. Top the cube with edible glitter.
- Fill the glass with Champagne or other sparkling wine.
- Garnish with a lemon twist.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
