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In case you haven’t figured it out yet, this week is unofficially-officially Leftover Champagne Week at the blog. Is this a case of bad timing on my behalf? Surely some of you poured your New Year’s Eve backwash down the drain days ago. But what about youse guys who overstocked for your year-end blowout, and now must stare down the doldrums of January while half a case of perfectly good bubbly makes eyes at you from the top of your fridge? This week’s for you.
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And I really shouldn’t endeavor any sort of Champagne Week without a proper, i.e. World’s Greatest, Champagne Cocktail. I’m talking about the classic here, the one you could technically argue ain’t even a cocktail because the only booze in it is bubbly. A single alcoholic ingredient, not even a liquor one at that: That’s two strikes in mine and many other books.
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But we give this guy a pass because champagne cocktails — nay, the Champagne Cocktail is just so delightful and lovely and fun. There’s something so whimsical (in a good way; my husband hates that word) about fashioning a drink with honest-to-goodness sugar cubes. Oh, the presentation effect! The precious look of them doused in bitters! It’s enough to make me want to go hand-write a letter with an inkwell-dipped quill, which I will then seal using the family crest. (Do you think they drank champagne cocktails in Downton Abbey?)
The World’s Greatest Champagne Cocktail
Champagne — a flute’s worth of it, the best kind you’ve got
2 cubes of sugar
About 5 dashes Angostura Bitters
Plop the sugar cubes into a champagne flute. Douse with the bitters. Fill with preferably-uppercase-C Champagne.
Tasting Notes
As I try to make the case for in every “World’s Greatest” cocktails, the better the base, the better the drink. Certainly the bitters and sugar cube here will bring out the best in highbrow bubbly — but the other great thing about the champagne cocktail is that it can turn your ordinary, $9.97 bottle of sparking wine into a delicious drink just as well.
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