10.08.11
WoM – Champagne Edition
I am a sucker for the bubbly. Now imagine a week of champagne drinking just because I can. What a wonderful week that was. And in case you are wondering, yes, I used real Champagne. Here’s to Week of Mixology – Champagne Edition!
As for week #1, I am recollecting week #2 here as this blog did not exist at the time.
The Week of Mixology – Champagne Edition started on Sunday, 12 June 2011.
I drank two bottles of Champagne during that week. The first was a G.H Mumm & Cie Cordon Rouge Brut, the second was a Moet et Chandon Imperial. Because the base ingredient was of good quality, it forced me to use good quality liqueurs. I will not hide that It was an expensive week, especially since I was stocking my bar as I went along, but it was totally worth it.
Kir Royale (Mumm)
- 1 part creme de cassis
- 5 part Champagne
- Pour sparkling wine into a large chilled wine glass, add 1/2 ounce of creme de cassis [black currant liqueur], and stir gently. Garnish with a twist of lemon peel.
- Source: www.avalonwine.com
The idea was to launch the Champagne Edition in style. I bought some real Creme de Cassis de Dijon. Given that that stuff is quite expensive, I figured I had to use real champagne; it would have been a shame to use champagne cheaper than the creme de cassis.
My impression of the drink was bit of a let down though. It’s an okay drink but I was not blown away. Nevertheless I am willing to try it again to form a better opinion.
Midori Sparkle (Mumm)
- 3/4 oz Midori Melon Liqueur
- Dry sparkling wine
- Pour Midori into champagne flute. Top with sparkling wine.
- Source: A little leaflet that came with the Midori bottle.
For some mysterious reason this cocktail is bitter. Maybe the contrast between the sugar of the Midori and the dryness of the champagne is too much for the palate to deal with. I tasted the champagne on its own afterwards, it was just fine. I did not like this cocktail.
Strawberry Kir Royale (Mumm)
- 1 cup halved strawberries
- 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 cup Champagne
- 1/2 tsp creme de cassis
- Mix strawberries and sugar in a bowl and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Divide into two white wine glasses, add champagne and creme de cassis.
- Sources: www.drinksmixer.com
Yummy! Just slightly sweet. I really liked this one. And there’s a bonus: about one cup of sweetened strawberries to eat afterwards.
I used a champagne flute instead of a white wine glass. The cocktail looks awesome with a strawberry in the flute.
The recipe one finds everywhere is incredibly vague. My questions were: “Pour the strawberries in a glass or just the juice?”, “How much strawberry syrup are we talking about?”, “Well, even after 10 minutes, I don’t have much syrup, what do I do? Is that enough?”. So in the end I think I had about 1 tsp, certainly no more than 1 tbsp of strawberry syrup.
Champagne Cocktail (Mumm)
- 2 splashes Angostura Bitters
- 1 sugar cube
- 5 oz Champagne
- Soak sugar cube with a couple of good splashes of Angostura bitters and place in the bottom of a large champagne flute. Fill slowly with sparkling wine. Garnish with a lemon twist.
- Source: www.avalonwine.com
That’s a good cocktail. Not too sweet and quite flavourful. I have made that one several times after this first attempt. I do not know about the “two splashes of Angostura Bitters”, I just pour enough bitter to turn the cube brownish without having it melt in my hand. Of course, this can easily be adjusted to anyone’s preference.
Horn of Plenty (Moet)
- 3 oz Champagne
- 1/3 oz Grand Marnier
- 1/3 oz Campari
- 1/4 oz grenadine syrup
- Pour into a champagne flute, and garnish with a half-slice of orange and a cherry.
- Source: www.drinks-heaven.com
I was not excited about this one. I think I have to conclude, after the cocktail experiments made so far, that very sweet champagne cocktails just do not work for me. A bit of sweetness is okay though. In this case, to fix my drink, I diluted with more champagne… Could be worse.
Champagne Cooler – Kathleen’s Variation (Moet)
- 1/2 oz Hennessy Cognac
- 1/2 oz Cointreau
- 4 oz chilled Champagne
- Pour the Cognac and Cointreau in a flute. Fill with champagne, or simply add to taste.
- Credits: Kathleen Labrie, inspired by several other Champagne Cooler recipes found on the net.
Really good! I mean really. It is slightly sweet due to the Cointreau.
This is my variation on various Champagne Cooler recipes I found on the internet. I figured if I am going to use expensive champagne, I have to use cognac and Cointreau, not any cheap brandy and triple sec like the recipes I found were suggesting.
Grand Mimosa (Moet)
- 1/2 oz Grand Marnier orange liqueur
- 1 splash orange juice
- Champagne
- Pour Grand Marnier into a champagne flute. Fill almost to the top with champagne and top off with fresh orange juice.
- Source: www.drinkmixer.com
What a wonderful excuse for booze before breakfast! Definitely a great way to start a Saturday and to end a Week of Mixology.
Hardly any juice in this one. It is basically champagne and Grand Marnier. That morning I walked around the house checking on my vegetable garden with a flute of Grand Mimosa, then sat down on the lanai to finish it up. That was a Grand Saturday morning.
In summary, the cocktails for the week of June 12, 2011:
- Kir Royale (Sunday)
- Midori Sparkle (Monday)
- Strawberry Kir Royale (Tuesday)
- Champagne Cocktail (Wednesday)
- Horn of Plenty (Thursday)
- Champagne Cooler – Kathleen’s Variation (Friday)
- Grand Mimosa (Saturday)