The following is an extended version of the article in our January 2021 issue.
Photo by Jaeyoon Jeong/Unsplash
There’s much to celebrate as we turn the last page of 2020 and venture into a new year.
As Napoleon once proclaimed, “In victory we deserve Champagne — in defeat we need it.” If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that nothing tickles quite like a Champagne cocktail.
From the wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing mimosa to some hyper-modern mixological play on bubble tea with Champagne gastrique "caviar," sparkling wine and cocktails have been periodic co-conspirators since the craft began.
The most classic Champagne cocktail is the French 75. Essentially a gin sour topped with bubbly, it’s named for the 75 mm artillery used by the French army in World War I — though the exact origin story is lost to history.
Bubble Bound
At Quirk Hotel’s recently opened The Lobby Bar, Morgan Slade creates a French 75-meets-bramble libation dubbed Q75, made with Moldovan brut instead of Champagne.
If winter darkness has you down, you might find comfort in Chris Spencer’s Spring Fling, a sprightly concoction of strawberries and sparkling rosé that serves as a perennial star on Charred’s cocktail menu.
At Lehja, Sunny Baweja builds the cocktail to the wine instead of vice versa. The Desi Ginger Bellini conjures flavors and aromas of his childhood to complement the Grover Zampa brut imported from India. Ginger, lime and honey warm the already lively notes of the wine, and the toasted cumin garnish ignites an effervescence to carry you away with every sip.
Classic French 75
1 ounce London Dry gin
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
3 ounces dry sparkling wine
Combine all but wine in a shaker, add ice, and shake vigorously. Fine-strain into a flute glass and top with dry sparkling wine. Optional garnish: lemon twist.
Q75
Morgan Slade, @TheLobbyBar_RVA (Quirk Hotel)
Morgan Slade came up with this Lobby Bar staple when the owner of Quirk approached him one day and said, “I had this great drink called French 77? ... French something. Can you make one?”
So he made a classic French 75 and then a variation using the crème de mûre (blackberry liqueur) they keep on hand for the Bramble. It was an instant hit and became the iconic Q75. He features the Moldovan Brut because it’s unique and pairs perfectly with the ingredients as well as the hotel’s brand character.
1 ounce Beefeater London Dry gin
1 ounce Massenez crème de mûre
3 ounces Cricova Moldovan Brut
Combine in a chilled flute glass and top with Brut. Garnish with a thyme sprig.
Desi Ginger Bellini
Sunny Baweja, @LehjaRVA
For Sunny Baweja, the marionette master of Lehja, sparkling wine cocktails are all about the wine.
“How do we accentuate, sort of bring out and enhance the flavors and aromas of the wine?” he asks. “It’s like a journey, you see, from the bottom of the glass until it explodes from the surface. With this drink I’m arranging the bouquet you get with all these different elements of India.”
And the recipe was inspired by what he and his friends called Desi Soda — fresh ginger juice, lime juice, sugar and sparkling water, dusted with toasted cumin — which they drank before Coca-Cola filled the shelves in his native India.
Dusted over the surface, toasted cumin notes curl noseward with a classic Indian redolence reflecting the land where the bubbly was made; a scent memory bringing Sunny — and whoever’s sipping this drink — back to his childhood.
1/2 ounce fresh ginger juice
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/2 ounce/1 teaspoon honey
5-6 ounces Grover Zampa Brut rosé (or similar dry sparkling)
Mix juices and honey until dissolved and pour into a chilled flute glass. Top with the brut. Garnish with a dusting of toasted cumin.
For 1 ounce fresh ginger juice:
Blend or microplane 40 grams ginger root, adding a few drops of water as needed. Strain through cheesecloth and twist to squeeze out every last drop. Stores up to 1 week in the fridge.
Spring Fling
Chris Spencer, @charredswiftcreek
Chris Spencer helped rebrand Richmond's Social 52 as a craft cocktail restaurant, and he’s carried that ethic forward through opening Charred in Midlothian. Though he admits it’s funny having a strawberry and rosé cocktail still on the menu in midwinter, he suspects the regulars at Charred would call for his head if he took it off.
And there’s a lot to be said for the mental health aspect of tasting spring flavors when the world around remains cold and bleak. A microvacation for the mind ... made possible by mixology.
1 fresh strawberry
1 1/2 ounces vodka
1/2 ounce elderflower liqueur
1 ounce lime juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
Sparkling rosé
Muddle the strawberry in a cocktail shaker and add everything but the wine. Add ice and shake. Fine-strain into a Nick & Nora glass (or a flute). Top with sparkling rosé and garnish with a strawberry.
Paul Blumer is a writer and emeritus craft bartender.
