The top 5 champagne cocktails for Christmas

THE CLASSIC CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL
As generic as the name sounds, this cocktail is actually very specific and is one of the few listed on the International Bartenders Association’s Cocktail lists. The cocktail is though to date back as far as 1862 when it was created by “Professor” Jerry Thomas. The version back then (thought to be the “classic” American version) skips out on the brandy.

Ingredients:
Sugar
Angostura bitters
Champagne
Brandy
Orange peel
Maraschino cherry (to garnish. I don’t like Maraschino cherries so I tend to skip this one).

Instructions:
Start with your champagne in the flute, then add Angostura bitters on a sugar cube which you then put into the champagne. Next you add your brandy to the champagne and finish up with orange peel and maraschino cherry garnish.

KIR ROYALE
The origins of the Kir Royale are based in Burgundy in France when it was just known as the Kir (same cocktail essential – just mixed with white wine instead of champagne) and was named after the priest Canon Félix Kir, who was a hero in the French Resistance during the Second World War and the Mayor of Dijon, a town in Burgundy.

Ingredients:
Crème De Cassis
Champagne

Instructions:
Add the champagne first and then add the Crème De Cassis. Typically, add 1 part Crème De Cassis for 4 parts of Champagne though this is entirely up to you (for instance you could always add more Crème De Cassis if you prefer a rosier looking colour.

MIMOSA
The champion of brunches all over the world! The mimosa is thought to have been invents at the Hôtel Ritz in Paris by Frank Meier in 1925.

Ingredients:
Orange juice (or Grapefruit juice)
Champagne

Instructions:
Add orange juice first, then your champagne. Or vice versa if you like, the idea is to have them both mixed up.

THE FRENCH 75
This champagne cocktail (also know as the 75 Cocktail) is easily one of the most famous ones out there and apparently dates back to 1915 in Paris. Created by barman Harry MacElhone at the New York hotel the name is thought to derive from the fact that the cockatil said to “have such a kick that it felt like being shelled with the powerful French 75mm field gun“.

Ingredients:
Gin
Champagne
Lemon juice
Sugar

Instructions:
Mix up your gin, lemon juice and sugar in a cocktail shaker, strain into your champagne flute and top it off with champagne. Simple!

BLACK VELVET
The drink was created to mourn the death of Prince Albert (husband of Queen Victoria) in 1861. The idea of drinking champagne during the mourning of the Prince seems too celebratory so they decided to give it ‘a black cape’ and although its not used in that same way anymore, it’s still one of the firm favourite champagne cocktails out there.

Ingredients:
Guinness
Champagne

Instructions:
Fill the flute halfway with champagne, the top off with Guinness (or any other stout of your choosing). The idea is to have the two floating separately (kinda like if the champagne was wearing a black cape so don’t splash the Guinness on top of the champagne. Instead, add it in by placing a spoon upside down and pour the Guinness onto the spoon so it runs slowly and evenly onto the mix.