I always feel a little torn when it comes to champagne cocktails. On the one hand, champagne is so delicious on its own—why bother adulterating it? On the other hand, you could say the same for any number of cocktail ingredients. But somehow my brain has a tough time equating champagne to, say, a fine cognac.
Anyhow, here’s a cocktail that includes both champagne and cognac, just to confuse things completely. Baker describes this one as a picker-upper, but it makes just as much sense as a standard cocktail.
- 1/2 pony cognac (1/2 oz Park Borderies Single Vineyard)
- 1/2 tsp fine sugar
- Champagne (2006 Domaine Carneros by Taittinger)
- 1 to 2 dashes yellow Chartreuse (1 barspoon)
- 2 dashes orange bitters (Regan’s No. 6)
Add cognac and sugar to large champagne glass. Fill with champagne, then top with yellow Chartreuse and orange bitters.
If you’re of the opinion that champagne needs to be dressed up, this is an okay way to do it. The orange bitters struck me as a bit much, though. Perhaps this would be better with one dash instead of two, or with Fee’s instead of Regan’s.
(Lest I appear overly curmudgeonly about champagne cocktails, I should add that I thoroughly enjoy a French 75 now and then. But Baker didn’t include the French 75 in his book, so if you haven’t had one, you’ll just have to go make it yourself.)
Ile de France Special: ★★★☆☆
It’s not that champagne needs to be dressed up; it just does a good job of dressing other things up as well.