Champagne Cocktail

I have not seen them in Marie Antoinittes, but instead in flutes. Usually, in my experience, a lump of sugar, soaked in creme de cassis, is placed in the flute, which is then filled. My wife likes the variation called Kir Royale, in which a dollop of either framboise or chambord is placed at the bottom of the flute (or as we once saw, spiraled down the sides of the flute) before the Champers went in.

Marc

I often make this - in flutes - not with NV Veuve though. However the version that I know is for a lump of sugar to be soaked in Angostura, a measure of cognac on top of that and then filled with the fizz.

It certainly does pack a wallop.

The Angostura one (without brandy) goes back a long way as I've found it in my copy of "Cocktails - How to mix them" by "Robert" of the Embassy Club which has a publication date of 1922.

"In a wine glass put 1 lump of sugar, soak it with Angostura Bitters, squeeze the essence of 2 or 3 pieces of lemon-peel in the glass, add 1 lump of ice, and fill the glass with iced champagne. Stir up slightly with the mixing spoon, squeeze and drop another piece of lemon-peel in the glass. Note that a bottle of champagne makes from 5-6 cocktails"

James

You describe the classic Champagne cocktail which I've had many times, as with a Royal Kir. I've just never had Sweet champagne with Cognac before and the deliver sstem was unique. By filling the stem of the Marie Antoinette glass with the cognac then slowly filling the glass, when you sipped a bit of the cognac would sort of "slide" into your mouth with the champagne so the champagne acted as a "chaser" due to the different weights the cognac would stay on the bottom.

An interesting variation is to soak the lump of sugar with Elixir de la Grande-Chartreuse. This very strong version of Chartreuse comes in tiny bottles in a small round wooden cases. I have not seen it offered in the US, but it can be had via the UK. The traditional use of this spirit likely was in the form of a few drops on a sugar cube after a heavy meal.

Using the tiny approx. 1/4 bottles of NV Champagne or a decent dry sparkling wine avoids opening a full bottle if only one or two people want a Champagne cocktail.