Champagne Cocktail

A 19th-century classic built directly in the glass: a sugar cube saturated with Angostura bitters, a splash of cognac, and a gentle pour of chilled champagne, finished with expressed citrus and a cherry. The dissolving cube sends a steady thread of bubbles up the flute. A version appears as early as Jerry Thomas's 1862 guide — the earliest renderings skipped the brandy and leaned on a lemon twist — while the modern standard adds a small measure of cognac for depth.

AperitivoClassicSpirit-ForwardBrightCarbonated

Ingredients

  • 1 pieceSugar(1 sugar cube, soaked with the bitters)
  • 2 dashAngostura Bitters(dashed onto the sugar cube)
  • 0.33 ozCognac
  • 3 ozChampagne(chilled)

Garnish: Orange Peel, Maraschino Cherry

Preparation

built · Champagne Flute · None

  1. 1.

    build

    Place a sugar cube in a chilled champagne flute and saturate it with 2 dashes of Angostura bitters.

  2. 2.

    add

    Add the cognac over the sugar cube.

  3. 3.

    top

    Gently top with chilled champagne so the bubbles aren't knocked flat.

  4. 4.

    express

    Express an orange twist over the surface.

  5. 5.

    garnish

    Drop in the expressed orange twist and a maraschino cherry.

Flavor Profile

fizz
89%
dilution
39%
fruity
30%
sour
22%
sweet
19%
body
15%
Open in App