Champagne, or sparkling wine, is the superstar of drinks on New Year’s Eve. We love popping the bottle. We love watching the bubbles rise as we pour the precious liquid into champagne flutes. We love counting down to midnight and toasting the New Year with a glass of bubbly in our hands. And we love drinking. Yet, there’s something even better than champagne for that special toast: champagne cocktails.
Think about it. You can get a decent bottle of champagne for the price of a nice bottle of vodka. So why stick to the usual suspects—vodka, gin, whiskey, rum—on a night like New Year’s Eve, a night like no other, when you can create wonderful, bubbly champagne cocktails? All you need to do is jazz up your favorite champagne or any sparkling wine with a few well-thought-out ingredients.
Below are nine exciting champagne cocktail recipes for your next New Year’s Eve party. Give them a shot. After all, you have nothing to lose except your taste for ordinary cocktails.
1. Classic Champagne Cocktail
The classic champagne cocktail is an easy way to make even the cheapest sparkling wine taste like a million bucks.
Ingredients:
- 1 Sugar cube
- Angostura bitters
- Champagne
Directions:
- Chill a champagne flute. Place the sugar cube on top of an open bitters bottle, holding it in place with your finger and turning the bottle upside down to let the bitters drip onto the cube. Drop the soaked cube into a champagne flute and pour in champagne. Optional: squeeze a lemon twist on top.
2. Atomic Cocktail
Created in Las Vegas in the 1950s, when atomic bomb tests were being conducted in Nevada, this cocktail is said to have the power of an atomic bomb, so handle it with care!
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz. Vodka
- 1 1/2 oz. Brandy
- 1 tsp. Sherry
- 1 1/2 oz. Champagne
Directions:
- Combine the vodka, brandy and sherry in a shaker and add ice cubes or cracked ice. Shake the mixture for about 10 seconds and strain it into a chilled cocktail glass. Add the champagne.
3. Barbotage
The barbotage is a New Year’s Eve favorite because of its elegant ingredients and delicious orange flavor that comes from a liqueur, not from orange juice.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 oz. Cognac
- 1 tsp. Grand Marnier
- 4 oz. Champagne
Directions:
- Pour cognac (or another brandy) and Grand Marnier into a champagne flute. Top up with champagne.
4. French 47
The French 75 was named after the fast-firing 75 mm field gun used by the French during World War I. It looks angelic, but the French 75 has a reputation for being as potent as a cannon blast thanks to its gin-champagne combo.
Ingredients:
- 2 oz. London dry Gin
- 1 tsp. Superfine sugar
- 1/2 oz. Lemon juice
- 5 oz. Champagne
Directions:
- Shake the gin, lemon juice and sugar well with cracked ice in a chilled cocktail shaker. Strain into a glass half-full with ice and top off with champagne.
5. Apple Cider Mimosa
The classic mimosa is a mix of two ingredients: champagne and orange juice. Yes, it’s a delicious and refreshing drink, but we’re talking about New Year’s Eve (and New Year’s Day), for Pete’s sake! That calls for something with a bit more kick.
Ingredients:
- 4 oz. Champagne
- 2 oz. All-natural Apple Cider
- 1 oz. Cinnamon Whiskey
- 1 Slice of apple for garnish
Directions:
- Pour cider and cinnamon whiskey into a champagne flute. Top with champagne, then stir lightly. Garnish with an apple slice. Optional: wet the flute rim and dip it in a mixture made of two parts of sugar to one part of ground cinnamon.
6. Black Velvet
True beer lovers can be true to beer on New Year’s Eve. This cocktail is perfect for those who love beer but want to partake in the traditional midnight champagne toast. With the black velvet, they don’t need to choose between the two drinks.
Ingredients:
- Stout beer
- Champagne
Directions:
- Fill a chilled Collins glass halfway with your stout beer of choice. Top the glass the rest of the way with champagne. Stir gently with a plastic cocktail rod, a chopstick, or a butter knife.
7. Malibu Piña Colada
If you’re spending New Year’s Eve surrounded by snow, this drink will make you feel like you’re surrounded by white-sand beaches. It offers the fresh tropical flavor we’ve all grown to love plus a little extra oomph that only champagne can provide.
Ingredients:
- 1.5 oz. Malibu Original
- 1/2 oz. Pineapple juice
- 1/2 oz. Coconut cream
- 3 oz. Champagne
Directions:
- Pour the Malibu, pineapple juice and coconut cream into an ice-filled shaker and shake until cold. Pour the champagne into shaker and stir. Strain into a chilled glass and top with a slice of pineapple.
8. Air Mail
This cocktail can transport you to better places. It’s the Caribbean version of a French 75, with a splash of lime whisked into a succulent mix of rum, honey and champagne.
Ingredients:
- 2 oz. Golden Puerto Rican rum
- 1/2 oz. Lime juice
- 1 tsp. Honey
- 5 oz. Champagne
Directions:
- Combine the rum, lime juice and honey with cracked ice in a chilled cocktail shaker, then pour unstrained into a Collins glass. Add the champagne.
9. Champagne Punch
No New Year’s Eve party would be complete without champagne punch. Recipes vary. Some use ginger ale, while others use soda. Some call for Grand Marnier, others for Cointreau. Some include only citrus fruits, while others include berries or a combination of fruits. They’re all good and worth a try.
Ingredients:
- Champagne
- 1 1/2 oz. Brandy
- 1 1/2 oz. Cointreau or Grand Marnier
- 1 Bottle club soda or Ginger ale
- 1 Orange rind
- Pineapple slices
- Orange slices
- Strawberries or mixed berries
- Mint
Directions:
- Put the berries into a large punch bowl and crush them into small pieces. Add ice to the punch bowl and pour in the champagne, brandy, Cointreau (or Grand Marnier) and club soda (or ginger ale). Stir. Garnish with orange rinds, sliced orange, sliced pineapple and fresh mint.
Sources: Esquire, Delish, Town & Country, Cosmopolitan, Epicurious, Food & Wine, Liquor.com.