Champagne Cocktail
A sugar cube soaked in bitters, topped with Champagne. The 1850s original cocktail — spirit, sugar, bitters — with wine standing in for the spirit.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Chill a Champagne flute or coupe.
Put the sugar cube in the glass and soak it with the bitters.
Add the cognac if using, then top slowly with very cold Champagne.
Express a lemon twist over the top and drop it in. Do not stir; the cube dissolves slowly and keeps the drink fizzing.
A thoughtful finish
- The sugar cube is doing two jobs: sweetening gradually, and giving the bubbles something to form on. Loose sugar does neither; use a cube.
- Very cold wine, very cold glass. The drink is nothing but fizz and aroma, and warm Champagne loses both.
- A brut Champagne or a good brut sparkling wine. Anything sweeter plus the sugar cube is too much.
Common mistakes
- Stirring. It knocks out the fizz and dissolves the sugar at once.
- Using a sweet sparkling wine. The cube already sweetens it.
- Pouring the wine fast over the cube; it foams over. Pour down the side.
A few good questions.
Is it worth using real Champagne?
A good dry sparkling wine — cava, crémant, a brut Prosecco — makes a very good version. Real Champagne makes a better one, but the bitters and sugar hide some of the difference.
With or without cognac?
Without is the original American drink; with is the Parisian version, richer and stronger. Both are correct.
Why does the sugar cube keep fizzing?
The rough surface of the cube gives the dissolved carbon dioxide nucleation points, so bubbles stream from it until it dissolves.
What is the difference from a French 75?
The French 75 is a gin sour topped with Champagne — gin, lemon, sugar. The Champagne Cocktail has no citrus juice and no spirit beyond the optional cognac.
Variations
Where it comes from
c. 1850s · United States
The Champagne Cocktail is as old as the word cocktail’s first definition — spirit, sugar, water and bitters — and it is simply that formula with Champagne doing the work of all four. It appears in Jerry Thomas’s 1862 Bar-Tender’s Guide and in newspaper accounts of the 1850s; one from 1855 describes it being served on a Panama steamer. It was a fixture of the Gilded Age and the great ocean liners, and Casablanca’s Rick’s Café served it on screen in 1942. The cognac float is a Paris addition from the early twentieth century and is optional.
Sources
- Jerry Thomas, How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon-Vivant's Companion, 1862 (book)
- David Wondrich, Imbibe!, 2015 (book)
- Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930 (book)
Strength. About 1.2 US standard drinks at an estimated 13.3% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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