By Caroline Gonzalez
Feature photo by TinyTall
Champagne. Luxuriously fizzy, romantically sparkly, and tickle-your-nose bubbly. What’s not to love?
If you, like many people I know, still have left over champagne from New Year’s Eve, the time has come for you to bust it out and share it with the ones you love. Share it for no reason other than that it is deliriously delicious and much too fabulous to keep locked up in a sad, dreary liquor cabinet.
It is my firm belief that bubbly is not made solely to be popped on New Year’s Eve or on rare special occasions, but rather, it is made as a means to elevate the run-of-the-mill day. Why limit our champagne consumption to events or occasions few and far between? Why, like Biggie, can’t we drink champagne when we’re thirst-ay?
While champagne alone exudes glamour and conjures up images of romance (you know the Pretty Woman scene to which I’m referring), imagine its possibilities when a splash of St-Germain is added. For those who are not familiar, St- Germain is a liqueur made from elderflower blossoms that grow in the French Alps. Each spring, there is a four to six week harvest period in the Alps during which, at least as the pictures on St-Germain’s website suggest, charmingly old French men with warm smiles and worn berets pick the blossoms that constitute this ethereal liqueur. Once the blossoms are collected, they are macerated to maintain the sweet taste of the blossoms and then added to a grape spirit.
Together, champagne and St-Germain make a remarkable cocktail and serve as the ultimate remedy for the average day. The fruity and floral notes in the delicate liqueur add a certain je ne sais quoi that has the power and grace to transport to an otherworldly fantasy land and lift both your spirits and champagne glass.
No longer should you keep your champagne bottled up, awaiting the next anniversary, graduation, wedding, or new year. No longer should you face another mundane day without knowing there’s a fabulous and fun cocktail with your name on it. When you find yourself feeling frisky, or perhaps not frisky enough, whip out the left over champagne and the bottle of St. Germain that I hope you will now save for the most unremarkable of occasions.
Cocktail Recipe:
St-Germain and Champagne
½ part St-Germain
Brut Champagne or Brut Rosé
Instructions:
Pour ingredients into a chilled champagne glass and stir lightly. Add a lemon twist or a berry for extra flare.
Note: Champagne can be substituted with a dry sparkling wine.