Classic holiday cocktails

When it comes to the wonderfully fizzy Champagne cocktail, with its dazzling stream of bubbles commencing from the laced sugar cube at the bottom of the flute and escaping in muted 'pops' at the surface, any festive eve will do. Be it Christmas or New Years', if you're looking for a sophisticated crowd-pleaser, this is the cocktail for you. And the great thing about champagne -- or any sparkling wine for that matter -- is that it has the canny ability to pair magnificently with whatever you're serving, from meatballs to filet mignon.

Champagne Cocktail
Makes 1 drink

1 sugar cube
Few dashes Angostura bitters (found in grocery stores)
6 oz (175 mL) chilled champagne or sparkling wine
Lemon twist for garnish

Soak sugar cube with a few dashes of bitters then place in the bottom of a champagne flute. Fill with bubbly and garnish with a lemon twist.

If garnishing "oohs" and "ahhs" from the crowd by showing off your advanced bartending skills is more your speed, try a Chocolate Candy Cane layered shot. Picture this: ruby red grenadine syrup settled at the bottom of a shot glass; above that a crystal clear layer of white crème de cacao and capped by an emerald chapeau of green crème de menthe. Physics is a wonderful thing!

Chocolate Candy Cane
Makes 1 shot

Dash grenadine
1/2 oz (15 mL) white crème de cacao
1/2 oz (15 mL) green crème de menthe

Pour grenadine into shot glass and then pour crème de cacao slowly over the back of a teaspoon to create a clean layer. Repeat with crème de menthe, pouring slowly over the back of the spoon to prevent mixing.

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Weekly Wine Course: Lesson #68
All champagne is sparkling wine but not all sparkling wine is champagne. Huh?! In order to call bubbly Champagne, it must come from that region in France. Sparkling wine from Italy is called Prosecco, from Germany, Sekt and Cava from Spain. All you need to know is that it's delicious and you should probably be drinking more of it. Wherever it's from.

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Ryan Jennings and David Steele are the authors of Cooking with Booze. www.cookingwithbooze.com