This Bubbly Booze Is The Perfect Way To Enhance Your Favorite Classic Cocktails

"Classic" cocktails sure sound especially esteemed. With one little modifier, what could seem like any old drink is catapulted into an exalted class where all others seem to be mere novelties. "Classic," of course, also fairly implies a kind of rigidity. One couldn't pass off a gentle 50/50 martini as a classic, for example, any more than a Jack and Cherry Coke can masquerade as an old fashioned. But, behind closed doors, or in the warm glow of your friendly neighborhood bartender, you can throw all those pesky expectations out the window, and really take a red pen to a lot of the classic guidelines. Champagne is just the equally dignified addition to plenty of classics that won't have as many looking askance.

Champagne can lighten up a lot of heavier spirits that you might want to take the edge off. The bubbles can have that near literal effect, but it can also serve as more of a diluent in lower quantities where its own effervescence is a little reigned in. Now, Champagne varieties' flavor profiles can vary as much as anything else, so not every sparkler will mingle as marvelously with every libation. But you'll find a few that happily marry.

A Champagne cocktail is a classic unto itself, made with Champagne, bitters, sugar, and a lemon twist. It's great, but it also isn't what we're talking about in this case. We're talking about bubbly spins on things like those aforementioned old fashioneds, for example. The riff mixes extra dry Champagne, or its more reasonably priced doppelgänger, Prosecco, with brandy, bitters, and sugar in an homage that nods to the classic's original elements. Speaking of all that sugar, you can also make your daiquiris even more uplifting by swapping some of its simple syrup with a bit of sweeter Champagne to taste. The bubbly of your choice can also customize a margarita to the max.

There are also, of course, even more classics that already use something sparkling as a matter of course — your French 75 and negroni sbagliato famously among them. In general, anything that you think could benefit from a bit of fizz might be the next best match, and someday, somebody might be adulterating your own invention to create one all their own.