Hello to the new Deadspin refugees! To everyone else, welcome back to Cocktail of the Week! Now back in its usual slot after a one week absence, due to baby sharkette deciding to arrive a few days earlier than expected. Because everyone is happy and healthy, let’s celebrate with some champagne! This week’s cocktail is the aptly named Champagne Cocktail:

Champagne Cocktail

1 Sugar cube

1-4 dashes of Angostura Bitters

5oz. Champagne

Place the sugar cube into the bottom of a champagne flute. Dash the bitters over the sugar cube, and then top with the champagne. Add a twist of lemon as garnish

So each of the three cocktail books I included in the picture have a variation of the Champagne Cocktail. The only real difference between the three is the amount of bitters added to the sugar. PDT calls for one dash, Waldorf two, and Vintage cocktails 4. The PDT book and the Waldorf book also suggest specific champagnes; while Vintage cocktails does not. The champagne I used for this was Korbel. Not the best, I know, but it is what I had on hand. Champagne quality is a factor here, but there is a line. If you’ve got a really high end bottle of champagne, you most certainly could use that here, and it would make an amazing drink, but at the end of the day you’re making a cocktail with it and concealing its natural flavors. I say go middle of the road and gussy up a cheaper bottle.

The final color definitely surprised me. I did not think a few dashes of bitters could change the color to that extreme. The champagne turns a light-ish red that resembles a dark rosé wine.

As to the flavor, the drink starts off sour, due to the lemon garnish, of which I squeezed on top before dropping in. After the sour, the bitters come in, and then finally the champagne rounds out the sip. The up front lemon is refreshing, but not overpowering. Stronger flavors could easily overpower the champagne, as this is a delicate drink.

The sugar doesn’t really add much to the overall flavor. As I’m sipping this, the sugar cube is slowly dissolving at the bottom, but instead of incorporating into the drink, there is a sugary puddle where the cube once was. From what I gather, the cube is mostly function over form or flavor. It serves as a mechanism to time release more bitters into the drink.

Overall, this is a simple and yet still over the top cocktail. I usually wouldn’t think of champagne as a base for a cocktail, but it turns out that it is quite an effective one. I’d save this one for special occasions.

(Banner image found here)