Champagne Cocktails: Includes recipes, quotes, lore, and a directory of the world's poshest lounges
The air in your automobile tires exerts a pressure of 28 to 36 pounds per square inch. The bubbles in a bottle of Champagne exert 95 psi. The next time you're feeling stressed, will you go for a drive or pop a cork? If you answered the latter, you're sure to enjoyChampagne Cocktailsby Anistatia Miller, Jared Brown, and Don Gatterdam. No strangers to the chronicling of the good life, Idaho-based Miller and Brown are the authors ofShaken Not Stirred: A Celebration of the Martini; Gatterdam is the Manhattan-based director of custom publishing for theWine SpectatorandCigar Aficionadofolks. In 114 splashily colorful pages effervescently topped with sparkling quotes and liquid lore, readers and sippers will discover more than 100 recipes combining that jewel of the vintner's art with the craft of the mixologist.Whether you fancy the purity of the Classic Champagne Cocktail--that alliance of sparkling wine and bitters that Esquire called one of the Ten Best Cocktails of 1934--or lean to the adventurous Mrs. Beeton's Champagne Cup--the one with the fresh borage sprigs--you'll be won over by this breezy treatise. Garnishing the pages of recipes and bartender's advice (citrus twists dropped in the glass tend to dissipate the bubbles quicker; ingredients should go into the drink in ascending order of expense) are wine wisdom and witticism from such diverse sources as Thackeray and Austin Powers,Babette's FeastandAbsolutely Fabulous. To be fair, some of the potions are pretty funky--one of the ingredients in a Red Ambrosia is Hawaiian Punch, and mixing up a Gloria should allow you to use up that bottle of lychee liqueur you've been saving for just the right occasion. And while there is a short chapter featuring lists of the top sparkling producers worldwide, a concoction such as the "Diabolitan" featuring anisette, gin, and liqueurs of strawberry and pear might be budgetarily better-suited to Cooks than Krug. Yet where else could one discover the difference between a Mimosa and a Buck's Fizz while learning how to shear the neck off a bottle with a cutlass? No matter whether you're pouring a Spanishcava, a Germansekt, or something French, you'll find it in the pages ofChampagne Cocktails.--Tony Mason