CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL
The Champagne Cocktail: One of America's Oldest Cocktails from the 1850s
The first written mention of the Champagne Cocktail appears in "Panama in 1855" Difford's Guide, where Robert Tomes described drinking champagne cocktails before breakfast. A recipe for the cocktail appears as early as "Professor" Jerry Thomas's "Bon Vivant's Companion" (1862), which omits the brandy or cognac and is considered to be the "classic" American version Wikipedia.
The original recipe consisted simply of champagne poured over crushed ice with sugar and bitters. W.J. Tarling's "Cafe Royal Cocktail Book" from 1937 is the first recipe that notes afterwards, "a dash of brandy as required" Classbarmag. The first addition of cognac is believed to have come from a winning recipe in a New York cocktail competition in 1889 Drink Me Magazine.
The modern recipe places a sugar cube in the bottom of a champagne flute or coupe, saturates it with Angostura bitters, adds a small measure of cognac, then tops with champagne. The sugar cube slowly dissolves, creating continuous bubbles and an evolving sweetness throughout the drinking experience.
Cocktail historian David Wondrich says the Champagne Cocktail "dates from the Iron Age of American mixology - that final prehistoric period between the invention of the cocktail, whenever that was, and 1862 when the first cocktail book was published" Difford's Guide.
RECIPE:
1 sugar cube
2-3 dashes Angostura bitters
½ oz cognac
4-5 oz champagne (or sparkling wine)
Lemon twist for garnish (optional)
Method:
Place sugar cube in champagne flute
Saturate sugar cube with Angostura bitters
Add cognac
Slowly top with chilled champagne
Optionally garnish with lemon twist