Champagne Cocktails With the In-Laws

Last weekend my Mother and (step) father in-law paid us a visit.  Following cherry blossom viewing I decided to make them cocktails.  There are some drinks that I like but cannot frequently make for logistical reasons.  I’m a big port fan, but you kind of have to commit to it because the bottle goes bad in less than two weeks.  Champagne cocktails fall into this group of well.  My wife and I have no problem polishing off a bottle of champagne in an evening but doing so with liquor in the champagne necessitates company or a willingness to get fairly sloshed.  As such, the in-laws provided an opportunity to try making a few things.  

For my wife, I concocted a drink with of St. Germain elderflower liquor and lemon.

Blumen Blasen (German for "blooming bubbles")

½ ounce elderflower liquor

¼ ounce of lemon juice

Fill rest of flute with champagne

Directions:  But liquor and lemon juice in flute, followed by champagne and swirl gently to mix.

I thought this had a very light taste and the lemon juice kept the elderflower liquor from overpowering the drink and making it too sweet.  This is also a good drink for someone in the mood for a less stiff drink.  Not surprisingly, my wife requested another.

I next made a stiffer drink for my wife’s step father.

Brasserie Lebbe (courtesy of Jason Wilson)

3/4 ounce of pear eau de vie (I used conventional pear brandy)

¾ ounce of Tuaca

½ ounce of lemon juice

3 ounces of dry champagne

Directions:  Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full wiht ice.  Add the eau de vie, Licor 43 or Tuaca, and lemon juice.  Shake virorously, then strain into a champagne flute.  Top with champagne.

Evidently my champagne flutes were too small, as this necessitated a goblet.  I had a sip and it seemed to be a complex drink where the champagne was barely detectable but created a crispness.  The recipient also enjoyed it.

For my mother in-law I made a drink that I’ve had before with my wife to good effect.

Goodnight Kiss (courtesy of Jason Wilson)

Sugar cube

Splash of Campari

Drop of angostura bitters

4 ounces of champagne

Directions:  Put sugar cube in flute, followed by a splash (1/2 a capful) of Campari and a drop of bitters.  Cover with champagne and allow to sit for a moment for the sugar to dissolve a bit.
My mother-in law is a big fan of Campari and with the sugar this makes for a very subtly drink.  More flavored champagne than a true cocktail.  I would later finish the bottle, making her another one of these.

For myself, I wanted to go off the reservation a bit.  A couple months earlier I bought a bottle of Green Chartreuse and was still exploring ways to use this ingredient.  Green Chartreause is in one of my favorite cocktails (the Last Word) but it doesn’t always play nice with others.  It tends to overpower a lot of drinks both because it’s 110 proof and because of its strong flavor profile.  I searched the internets for a recipe and found one.

The ChaChaCha (courtesy of some idiot)

¾ ounce of Green Chartreuse

1 Generous dash of Peychaud’s bitters

Top flute with champagne.

Directions:  Put the Green Chartreuse and bitters in the flute followed by the champagne and swirl gently.

The result:  Epic fail.  Everyone tried this thing and nobody could take it.  Perhaps it is that Green Chartreuse is a strong spirit and needs to be used in small doses or in conjunction with other strong flavors to balance it, but the result was unanimous.  I got about half way through and came to the conclusion that I hated it and saw no reason to polish it off – the ingredients were already wasted.
 
This brings up a bit of a philosophical question for cocktail nerds, or snobs of any sort.  Clearly, we value originality and moving beyond our comfort zones.  That said, at what point is it alright to admit “I don’t like this”, even without better reason that it looks, sounds or taste bad to you, and move on?  I find this is the case with a few boozes.  I want to like single-malt scotch.  It seems cool.  There is a long history of the spirit and a lot of interest.  However, to quote Ralph Wiggin, “It tastes like burning.”  My nostrils fill with smoke smell and my mouth and throat with the flame.  Perhaps I’ll later acquire this taste like I have mushrooms and Jazz or perhaps not like I haven’t with olives and Bluegrass.

Fortunately, I followed this drink up with a better one that I concocted.  I had some leftover lemon juice from my earlier juice.  I remembered that sloe gin and lime play very well with ginger ale in the Cloudy Sky, perhaps my wife’s favorite drink.  So for this one I substituted lemon juice and champagne, making for a slightly less sweat version of this flavor profile.

Spring Sunset

½ ounce of sloe gin (I used Plymouth)

½ ounce of lemon juice

Fill rest of the flute with champagne

Directions:  Put sloe gin and lemon juice in the flute and top with champagne.  Swirl gently to mix.

This was very nice.  It was not a challenging drink in that it involved a fairly sweet ingredient and the fairly sour but simple one with a slightly tart background of dry champagne.  Nonetheless, this proved a relaxing follow-up to the ghastly ChaChaCha.