A brandy drink that dresses up for the occasion: brandy shaken cold with a dash of curaçao for orange sweetness and a dash of Angostura for spice, then lengthened with Champagne in a sugar-frosted coupe. The wine lifts the brandy's warmth into something bright and fizzing while the sugared rim softens each sip — rich, faintly bitter and quietly celebratory.
Garnish: Sugar Rim, Lemon Wheel
shaken · Coupe · Up
rinse
Frost the rim of a chilled coupe with caster sugar (optional).
add
Combine brandy, a dash of curaçao, and a dash of Angostura bitters in a shaker with ice.
shake
Shake well until chilled.
strain
Strain into the prepared chilled coupe.
top
Fill with chilled Champagne.
garnish
Garnish with a lemon wheel (optional).
Cocktail manuals have carried this drink since the 19th century, and though its name probably points to Chicago, no one can say whether it was actually born there. No creator or bar is credited; instead it surfaced in widely separated places, poured at the American Bar in Nice and at the Embassy Club in London. Harry Craddock set down the Champagne-topped version in his Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930, and a year later John Drury included it in Dining in Chicago.