Regardless of your plans this New Year's Eve — staying home to celebrate, going to a friend's house or swinging out on the town — here's a grand idea for your libations of choice:
Champagne cocktails, made with either the real thing or sparkling wine.
It's an idea toasted by Michael Scherzberg, manager of the Ventana Room at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, especially if you're hosting a party.
Open a bottle of wine or champagne, and the tendency is to drink it too fast, Scherzberg said. Not so with cocktails.
"You can have more fun with (cocktails)" because "it takes a bit more time to mix and taste," he said. And that leads to more camaraderie, more time for visiting and chatting and less alcohol intake — not a bad thing, especially when it's time for friends to head home.
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Here are some suggestions; keep in mind they work equally well with sparkling wine.
Champagne Cocktail
Mix in champagne flute:
* 1 sugar cube
* 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
* Top off with champagne
* Lemon twist
Ventana Room
Midnight Moon
Mix in champagne flute:
* 1/2 ounce cognac
* 1/2 ounce amaretto
* 1/2 ounce white crème de cacao
* Top off with champagne or sparkling wine
* Orange twist for garnish
Ventana Room
Bellini
Mix in champagne flute:
* 11/2 ounce white peach purée
* Champagne
Ventana Room
Champari
* 1 ounce Campari
* 2 ounces champagne
Mix Campari and champagne in a champagne flute. Garnish with an orange twist.
Skyy Spirits
Good Night Kiss
* 1 ounce Campari
* 2 teaspoons white sugar
* 4 drops Angostura Bitters
* 1 ounce champagne
Pour Campari into a champagne flute, adding sugar and four drops of Angostura Bitters. Stir gently before adding champagne.
Skyy Spirits
X-Rated Holiday Punch
* 2 6-ounce cans cranberry juice concentrate
* 2 6-ounce cans pink lemonade concentrate
* 1 750-ml bottle X-Rated Fusion Liqueur
* 1 quart club soda, chilled
* 2 bottles pink champagne, chilled
* Ice cubes
To serve as cocktail: Serve in rocks glass with cranberries throughout glass.
To serve as punch: In large punch bowl, combine cranberry juice concentrate, lemonade concentrate, X-Rated Fusion Liqueur, club soda and champagne. Add ice cubes. Serve immediately. Garnish with slices of lemon.
Skyy Spirits
Buck's Fizz
Pour into a champagne flute:
* 2 ounces orange juice
* Champagne to fill glass
Ventana Room
Kir Royale
Mix in a champagne flute:
* 1/2 ounce cassis
* Champagne to fill glass
Ventana Room
(Non-alcoholic) Lemongrass Cocktail
Mix in a champagne flute:
* 1 sugar cube coated in prickly pear syrup
* 2 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
* Lemongrass Soda (Dry Soda Co.)
* Lemon Twist
Ventana Room
French 75
Mix in a champagne flute:
* 1 ounce cognac
* 1/2 ounce lemon juice
* 1/2 ounce simple syrup
* Champagne to fill glass
* Lemon twist
Ventana Room
Mimosa
Mix in a champagne flute:
* 1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
* 11/2 ounce orange juice
* Champagne to fill glass
Ventana Room
What's in a name?
Technically, only wines produced in the French region of Champagne can be called "champagne."
The rest of those bubblies — from vineyards in California, Texas, Massachusetts or anywhere else in the world — are called "sparkling wines."
It's a standard closely adhered to in European Union nations, said Michael Scherzberg, manager of the Ventana Room at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort.
Here in the U.S., however, we're not so picky, and you can find domestically produced "champagnes."
But, Scherzberg said, the great American domestic wine producers will label their product "sparkling wine" because they know it "is good enough to sell on its own — not on the coattails of another name."