December 31 2020: it seems such a long time ago! It was the year Joe Biden had defeated Donald Trump to win the Presidency of the United States. The year a COVID-19 ravaged world was waiting for the first vaccines. And our already-growing pool of loyal readers was was waiting in addition for our advice about what to do for cocktails on what was going to be a rather restricted New Years Eve festival. And here is what we wrote in a piece titled Two Champagne Cocktails for New Year-Even if You’re Staying In:
Well, New Years Eve has always been a traditional time for fun and japes and conga lines-and lots and lots of champagne. Sadly, old Mr Covid-19 is going to crimp that this year, and by more than a little! But, do not despair, good reader. We at LSS have a couple of delicious champagne cocktail recipes for you to try as the big countdown to the glorious hour begins.
French ’75
Supposedly named after a powerful piece of Gallic field artillery, this is a fun sharpener with quite a slug of our favourite spirit-gin. The lemon and caster will give it the feel of a sparkling version of that old LSS favourite Between the Sheets. So, adapted from from Hamlyn‘s The Ultimate Cocktail Book:
Half fill a tall glass with cracked ice. Add 1 measure of good dry gin, the juice of half a fresh lemon, one teaspoon of caster sugar, and chilled champagne. These days Bollinger or Veuve Clicquot are perfectly acceptable, unless you live in somewhere like Monaco. You can decorate this one well with orange, lemon or lime slices to give that real party feel.
The Bellini
Most readers of LSS will be more than familiar with Renaissance Art, and the works of Giovani Bellini in particular. We know this from our focus groups. So it may come as no surprise that this one was named after the eponymous author of such works as St Jerome in the Desert, Christ Blessing and St Francis in Ecstasy. We are a bit unsure about that last one; surely a small tipple before evensong would have been sufficient? Anyway, once St Francis had come back down he, and you, could well have enjoyed the following. Again it is from our immortal Hamlyn, which is to us what Das Kapital is to the followers of Karl Marx.
Take a large, robust wineglass. Add two measures of fresh peach juice. Add four measures of chilled champagne and a dash of grenadine. Hamlyn recommends peach slices to decorate. We say: use your imagination, it’s New Year’s Eve!
You can read the full histories and more about these cocktails below via Wikipedia. But don’t forget, Knowledge and objective learning are now in deep, deep danger. Wikipedia is one of the best guardians of truth that we have. And so we earnestly beg you to think how much you can donate to this marvellous resource. They too must survive another year: details below in the links.
French 75 (cocktail) – Wikipedia
Bellini (cocktail) – Wikipedia
Support Wikipedia – Wikimedia Foundation
The Ultimate Cocktail Book Hamlyn 2004
#french75 #bellini #champagne #newyearseve #cocktails #wikimediafoundation
Learning, Science and Society 