A bitters-soaked sugar cube rests at the bottom of the flute under a splash of cognac and a gentle pour of chilled champagne, and as it dissolves it sends a steady thread of bubbles up through the glass. It drinks dry and bright at first, with the Angostura adding spice and a faint bitter edge and the cognac a quiet warmth beneath, then turns a touch sweeter as the sugar gives way, with orange oil on the nose and a cherry waiting at the bottom.
Garnish: Orange Peel, Maraschino Cherry
built · Champagne Flute · Up
build
Place a sugar cube in a chilled champagne flute and saturate it with 2 dashes of Angostura bitters.
add
Add the cognac over the sugar cube.
top
Gently top with chilled champagne so the bubbles aren't knocked flat.
express
Express an orange twist over the surface.
garnish
Drop in the expressed orange twist and a maraschino cherry.
The Champagne Cocktail is a 19th-century classic with no documented inventor. A version turns up in Jerry Thomas's 1862 guide, The Bon Vivant's Companion — an American rendering that left out the brandy entirely and was finished with a twist of lemon. Harry Johnson later revived it with fruit added. The modern standard, which the IBA lists among its official cocktails, brings a small measure of cognac into the glass for added depth.