5 Best New Year's Eve Cocktail Recipes
For many drinkers, Champagne is sacred—too fancy, too refined, too expensive to be paired with anything less than caviar and a black tie. But bartenders around the world have been increasingly using Champagne in cocktails and breaking this stereotype. The following are five original Champagne cocktail recipes created by bartenders from all over the United States. They're all perfect for serving at an occasion when everyone's feeling fancy, like New Year's Eve or any other celebratory toast.
Most of these recipes make one cocktail, but they can easily be scaled up for sharing with a special someone to ring in the new year. Although some call for specific brands of alcohol, feel free to swap them out with whatever you have on hand. Check out our list of The 27 Best Champagnes and Sparkling Wines for New Year's Eve—All Under $30.
Now, the only question that remains is: flute or coupe?
And for more, don't miss these 15 Classic American Desserts That Deserve a Comeback.
Vice Versa
Named for a sassy Dorothy Parker quote, this cocktail makes a terrific aperitif to serve early on New Year's Eve night. The bar director and partner at Dear Irving on Hudson uses a Brooklyn-made gin, named after the eponymous Roundtable wit, which adds lots of elderflower and hibiscus notes to the slightly bitter drink.
Makes 1 cocktail
Ingredients
1 oz Dorothy Parker Gin
3/4 oz grapefruit juice
1/2 oz Luxardo Bitter
1/2 oz Giffard Pamplemousse liqueur
2 oz Brut Rosé Champagne
Directions
Combine the gin, grapefruit juice, bitters, and the Pamplemousse liqueur in a shaker with ice. Shake, then strain into a flute. Top with Champagne.
The Beautiful Stranger
Created by the San Diego-based bartender Erick Castro, this drink is one of his top sellers at Polite Provisions, though it's easily replicable at home. This is a rare Champagne cocktail that also uses tequila, and the result is a crisp and bright sparkling cocktail with a little more fruitiness and minerality than most. (If possible, make your own grenadine using real pomegranate juice.)
Makes 1 cocktail
Ingredients
1 1/2 oz Blanco Tequila
3/4 oz lemon juice
3/4 oz grenadine
1 oz Champagne
Lemon twist, for garnish
Directions
Combine the tequila, lemon juice, and grenadine in a shaker with ice. Shake, then strain into a coupe (or flute). Top with Champagne or sparkling wine. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Read more: 6 Cozy Winter Cocktails That Aren't Belly Bombs
The Loyal's Champagne Cocktail
Perfect for a romantic New Year's in, The Loyal—an NYC restaurant helmed by two-time Michelin-starred chef John Fraser—suggests this Champagne cocktail be enjoyed together. The restaurant serves guests a half bottle of Veuve Clicquot and a 50 mL bottle of Courvoisier cognac, along with sugar cubes, bitters, and lemon and orange peels in a build-your-own situation. However, here we have a recipe for a single-serving version.
Makes 1 cocktail
Ingredients
1 sugar cube
1/2 oz Courvoisier Cognac
3 dashes Angostura Bitters
Veuve Clicquot Champagne
Lemon twists, for garnish
Orange twists, for garnish
Directions
Combine the sugar cube, bitters, and Cognac in a coupe, and top with chilled Champagne to taste. Garnish with lemon and orange twists.
French 750
The most famous Champagne cocktail of them all is the French 75, created over a century ago in Paris. In my latest book, Gather Around Cocktails, I decided to modernize a legend by scaling the drink up to "party size." This large-batch version will happily serve a crowd gathered at your house on New Year's Eve [when it's not during a pandemic, of course!]. Just prep the base ahead of time, then pour into coupes and top with Champagne when it's time to toast.
Makes 12-15 cocktails
Ingredients
1 (750-milliliter) bottle cognac
6 oz fresh lemon juice
4 oz simple syrup
1 1/4 cups water
2 (750-milliliter) bottles dry Champagne
Lemon twists, for garnish
Directions
In a large pitcher or a punch bowl, combine the cognac, lemon juice, syrup, and water, and chill for at least an hour. Keep the Champagne chilled until party time. To make individual drinks, pour about 3 ounces of the batch into a large coupe, and top with 3 ounces of Champagne. Garnish with a thin and long lemon twist.
Read more: This Is the Fastest Way To Chill a Champagne Bottle
Scheduled Hangover
One of the more playful bartenders in the game, Stephanie Andrews of Billy Sunday in Chicago makes this fruit-infused cognac and Champagne cocktail. While the tropical infusion means you'll have to begin prepping the recipe a few days before New Year's, it's simple enough. Andrews also recommends making fun shapes with the orange swatch garnishes—she uses miniature cookie cutters to cut shapes like crowns.
Makes 1 cocktail
Ingredients
1 oz pineapple- and orange-infused Pierre Ferrand cognac (*recipe below)
1/2 oz sauternes
5 oz Champagne
Orange swatch, for garnish
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a flute or coupe. Garnish with an orange swatch shape.
*Combine chunks of one orange and one very ripe pineapple and place in a non-reactive container. Cover with a bottle of cognac, and place in the refrigerator for 3 days. Strain the fruit out and keep chilled until ready to use.
