Happy New Year’s Eve!
What does everyone have planned for tonight? Are you going out on the town or keeping it low key at home?
The fiancé and I are keeping it REALLY low key this year. He’s been down and out with a nasty cold this whole week, and we’ve kind of gotten over “going out” downtown and spending ridiculous amounts of money in cover charges and cocktails. We’d rather just make some tasty cocktails and cook a delicious dinner at home.
I’ve been seeing so many great, festive cocktail recipes floating around the interwebs this week, so I wanted to add one of my own. One of my absolute favorite sparkling wine cocktails (besides the Lychee Lightning of course) is the French 75. I just think it is so refreshing and isn’t so overwhelmingly sweet that you have to stop at just one. It is so much a favorite of mine, in fact, that it is going to be one of our signature cocktails at our wedding in July!
I knew I wanted to share a sparkling wine cocktail with you today because, after all, isn’t that THE number one beverage to celebrate New Year’s Eve with? (I mean, I celebrate every weekend with it but who’s to say I’m of the norm.)
I’m going to wait until closer to our wedding day to share our favorite, perfected (at least to our tastes) French 75 recipe, but for now I figured I’d leave you with a fun twist. I love the tartness and acidity that the lemon lends to the original version of this cocktail, so in order to match that I reached for some fresh grapefruit juice. This is really the main difference between the Greyhound 75 and the French 75, just swapping out the juices!
I used some pre-made simple syrup we had on hand, but you can also very easily make your own. The simple recipe is one part sugar to one part water. So, depending on how much you want to make, you could do something like one cup sugar and one cup water. Then you simply bring the combo to a boil and stir until the sugar dissolves, or the mixture becomes syrupy. You can also store extra in an airtight container in the refrigerator for quite some time.
Other than the fresh grapefruit and the simple syrup, you’ll just need some gin and some sparkling wine! Simple as that. I’m really having fun coming up with these combinations using what I have on hand in the kitchen, and I hope that you’re enjoying them as well, especially if you don’t have a fully stocked bar in your house! (And if you do, can I come over? I’ll bring the snacks.)
Please respond in the comments if there’s a particular liquor or recipe you want me to use for one of these weekly posts. I’d love to hear your ideas!
Finally, as this will be my last post for 2015, I want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you that has supported me thus far and encouraged me to get this blog off the ground. It is something I have been passionate about for a while and all of your support has helped push me to pursue my dreams, even when I have a steady “9-to-5” and could easily settle into that comfortability.
I’m REALLY looking forward to a successful 2016, and I know there are so many great things in store for all of us. Cheers to all of you!
- 1 ounce gin
- ½ ounce simple syrup
- 4 ounces sparkling wine
- 1 ounce fresh grapefruit juice
- Twist of grapefruit *
- Pour gin and simple syrup into champagne flute. Add sparkling wine and then top with grapefruit juice. Garnish with twist of grapefruit.
*To make the grapefruit twist, I simply took a vegetable peeler and peeled about a 3-inch long piece of the grapefruit rind. Give the peel a little twist and drop it in your cocktail for a little extra hit of that grapefruit flavor!
Cheers!