Champagne Cocktails and Kir Royale

‘Tis the season to make merry. The most elegant drinks are made with champagne or sparkling wine. Here are two of our favorite recipes:

Champagne Cocktail
Place a sugar cube in the bottom of a champagne flute. Pour in a few drops of Angostura bitters. Fill the glass with champagne. It’s a classic. Simple and quite tasty.

Kir Royale
Pour a half ounce of cassis, raspberry or strawberry liqueur into a champagne flute and fill the rest of the glass with champagne. Adjust liqueur to taste. Makes a lovely rose-colored cocktail.

Looking for an inexpensive substitute? Try Prosecco. It’s a sparkling wine from Italy that generally runs from $10-16 a bottle. Most already have subtle hints of pear or apple flavoring. But they also work well as a base for a Kir Royale.