Champagne cocktails come in many forms, from the very simple to the very complex. I’ve been working my way through 101 Champagne Cocktails by Kim Haasarud, which has a bevy of simple, complex and in between.
This one is totally simply but distinctive. You may have had a Kir Royale, made with a little cassis topped off with champagne. Cassis is made from black currants, which are technically berries but do not have the sweetness you normally associate with strawberries or blackberries. A Kir Royale is delicious, and can be lightly tinted to “berry” dark depending on the amount of cassis you employ.
A recent addition to the liquor world is POM, the pomegranate liquor. This one is sweet. And using POM produced a beverage that has distinctive sweetness and flavor. And, once again, depending on how much you use, you can vary the color from very lightly red to deeply intense.
This is a champagne cocktail that you can rattle off in seconds, yet offer your guests something wildly new. It’s the perfect starter beverage for a party where you want to focus on your guest and perhaps the food, and not spend too much time playing bartender.
Ah, Kim suggests making this drink with Red Rosso Spumante, an inexpensive red sparkling wine that widely found. It is sweeter than champagne so, when combined with the POM, it’s a lovely drink. We have only used Spanish Cava in our experiments and Suzen and I both found it the perfect complement to some tapas dishes: smoked salmon with balsamic tomatoes and shrimp with mayonnaise avocado.
POM Royale
Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients:
- 3-4 pomegranate seeds or cranberries for garnish
- ¾ ounce pomegranate liquor
- 5 ounces sparkling wine [Red Rosso Spumante, Champagne, Cava, …]
Preparation:
Drop the garnishes, either the seeds or cranberries, into the bottom of an empty champagne flute. Add the POM liquor. Top with the sparkling wine.
If you desire, garnish with an orange twist.
Source: 101 Champagne Cocktails by Kim Haasarud