New Year's bar: 8 cocktails for the festive table — from Champagne Cocktail to mulled wine
Material 18+. Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to your health.
Updated
Every year the same thing: the table is overflowing, the Olivier is ready, and the drinks are — champagne 'as is' and something stronger 'for those who need it'. Meanwhile, New Year's Eve is the perfect testing ground for a home bar: guests are in no rush, there are a dozen reasons to raise a glass, and a bottle of sparkling wine turns into four different cocktails with a flick of the wrist. Plus, winter demands something hot — and here the bartender has more to offer than just tea.
I’ve put together a New Year's program based on the evening's dramaturgy: light sparkling for bidding farewell to the old year, an impressive classic for the stroke of midnight, something hot — for a walk and returning from the cold, and a creamy dessert under Olivier-2 at three in the morning. Everything — from the catalog 24cocktails.com, proportions and steps exactly as written in the recipes on the site.
One practical tip before you start: count the ice. New Year's Eve is long, there are many guests, and ice always runs out by midnight. Two kilograms for four people — that’s the minimum, freeze from the 29th or buy a bag. And put the sparkling wine in the fridge in the morning: warm brut won’t save any recipe.
1. Champagne Cocktail
The master of ceremonies for the evening. This recipe is over a century and a half old — it was printed in guides from the 19th century and hasn’t changed since: a sugar cube soaked in bitters, cognac, and champagne. The sugar sits at the bottom and releases a spicy sweetness to the bubbles for half an hour — the glass lives and changes as you drink it. It looks like a miniature fireworks display, takes a minute to prepare, and it’s the perfect way to start the evening: it’s festive, yet light.
Ingredients
- Sugar cube
- Angostura Bitters
- Cognac Rémy Martin 1738 — 30 ml
- Brut Champagne — 100 ml
How to Prepare
- Dip the sugar cube in bitters and place it in the glass.
- Pour the chilled cognac over the soaked cube.
- Top with champagne.
Tip: don't stir the sugar — the slow dissolution is the show. Bitters on the cube — three to four drops, don't drown it. Pour the champagne down the side of a tilted glass: the sugar froths the sparkling wine a lot, a straight pour will give you a head all the way to the tablecloth.
2. Kir Royale
The quickest way to make 'just champagne' festive: a spoonful of blackcurrant liqueur at the bottom, sparkling wine on top — and in your hand, a pomegranate-red glass with a berry aroma. The cocktail is named after Félix Kir, the post-war mayor of Dijon, who treated the city's guests to a mix of local liqueur and wine; the version with sparkling wine earned the title 'royale'. For the New Year's table, it's also good for its color — it looks nice next to tangerines.
Ingredients
- Crème de cassis — 1 part
- Champagne — 5 parts
How to prepare
- Pour the crème de cassis into the glass.
- Carefully pour the champagne on top.
Tip: consider a part for 20 ml — a spoon or two of cassis in the glass, and that’s enough: if you pour too much, you’ll end up with a berry soda. Brut is a must, semi-sweet doesn’t get along with the liqueur. Cassis lives in the fridge after opening — and, by the way, it pairs excellently with a cheese platter.
3. French 75
A cocktail celebration with an artillery name: named after the French 75mm gun of World War I — for how it hits. Gin, lemon, and sugar, shaken with ice and topped with champagne: sparkling lemonade for adults, which goes down easier than lemonade and works much more effectively. Perfect around midnight, when you want to clink glasses with something bubbly and drink something a bit more interesting than plain brut.
Ingredients
- Gin — 1 1/2 oz
- Sugar — 2 tsp (fine)
- Lemon juice — 3/4 oz
- Champagne — 4 oz (chilled)
- Orange — 1
- Maraschino cherry — 1
How to make it
- Combine gin, sugar, and lemon juice in a shaker with ice.
- Shake vigorously.
- Strain into a chilled champagne flute.
- Top up with champagne.
- Gently stir.
Tip: remember the total strength: gin plus sparkling wine sneaks up on you, the 'seventy-fifth' is aptly named after a cannon. One of these per guest at midnight — a celebration; three in a row — a viewing of 'The Irony of Fate' starting from the second episode. Make sure the sugar dissolves completely in the shaker, taste before adding the sparkling wine.
4. Ambrosia (Ambrosia)
The 'drink of the gods' with a New Orleans twist: it's said that Ambrosia was served at the famous Arnaud's restaurant since the twenties. Essentially, it's an apple-grape duet: equal parts cognac and calvados, a splash of orange liqueur and lemon, topped with champagne. It results in a winter fruit cocktail without a single 'fruit syrup': dry, elegant, with the aroma of baked apple and citrus. A beautiful choice for guests who 'don't drink sparkling wine.'
Ingredients
- Rémy Martin 1738 Cognac — 30 ml
- Avallen Calvados — 30 ml
- De Kuyper Triple Sec (40%) — 7.5 ml
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice — 7.5 ml
- Brut champagne — to taste
How to make it
- Shake the first four ingredients with ice.
- Strain into a glass.
- Top up with champagne.
Tip: ‘to taste’ for sparkling means roughly to the top of the flute: first, taste the base, it should be bright and a bit tart, the champagne will stretch and soften it. No calvados? Any good apple brandy will do, but it’s the apple part that makes the Ambrosia an Ambrosia.
5. Atomic Cocktail
Greetings from Las Vegas in the fifties, the era of neon and atomic optimism: legend has it that the 'atomic' was mixed in casinos in honor of the spectacles that drew the whole city. The construction is bold: vodka and cognac in equal parts, nutty amontillado sherry, and sparkling wine on top. It sounds like an adventure, drinks like velvet — the sherry binds the strong duo with a salty-nutty note, while the champagne provides a festive finish. The most unexpected glass in this selection.
Ingredients
- Ketel One Vodka — 30 ml
- Rémy Martin 1738 Cognac — 30 ml
- Amontillado Sherry — 20 ml
- Brut Champagne — 20 ml
How to prepare
- Mix the first three ingredients with ice.
- Strain into a chilled glass.
- Top it off with champagne.
- Garnish with orange zest.
Tip: Stir, don’t shake: all the ingredients are clear, and we don’t need any foam here. Sherry is the soul of the recipe: amontillado with its nutty-dry tone cannot be replaced by sweet sherry or vermouth. Serve strictly in a chilled coupe and strictly one at a time: the strength of the 'atom' is appropriate.
6. Mulled Wine
A winter must-have — and the only recipe in this collection that’s made in a pot for the whole company at once. The secret to proper mulled wine is in the order of operations: spices are boiled separately in sugar syrup, and only then does the wine come in, which must not boil under any circumstances. This way, the spices have time to open up, and the wine retains both its flavor and its strength. Brandy at the end is the 'underpinning' that distinguishes homemade mulled wine from the kind you get at fairs.
Ingredients
- Water — 3 cups
- Sugar — 1 cup
- Cloves — 12 pcs.
- Cinnamon — 2 sticks
- Lemon zest — from 1 lemon
- Red wine — 750 ml
- Brandy — 1/4 cup (about 60 ml)
How to make it
- In a stainless steel pot, bring 3 cups of water to a boil with sugar, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and lemon zest.
- Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add 750 ml of red wine and heat to 'coffee temperature' (do not boil!).
- Add 1/4 cup of brandy and stir.
- Pour into glasses and garnish with a slice of lemon or a cinnamon stick.
Tip: 'Coffee temperature' is when it's hot enough to drink, but you can: around 70 degrees, steam appears at the edge of the pot, but no bubbles. Use a simple, dry wine: a tannic expensive Bordeaux will be wasted in mulled wine, and sweet wine plus sugar will just make a compote.
7. Auntie's Hot Xmas Punch
The coziest recipe in the collection — with an honest homemade name and an honest homemade method: everything gets mixed in a glass and heated in the microwave. Forty seconds — and in your hands, a steaming winter punch: sweet, raisin-y Pedro Ximénez sherry, cognac, apple, and lemon, stitched together with Creole bitters. Tastes like liquid Christmas cake, and takes less effort than making tea. Perfect after a walk on New Year's Eve.
Ingredients
- Pedro Ximénez sherry — 45 ml
- Rémy Martin 1738 cognac — 67.5 ml
- Lemon juice — 22.5 ml
- Apple juice — 90 ml
- Peychaud's bitters (or other Creole bitters) — 4 dashes
How to prepare
- Pour all the ingredients into a glass and stir.
- Heat in the microwave for 40 seconds (time depends on your microwave), stir again and serve.
Tip: Use a thick-walled glass, like for mulled wine or latte, and don’t overheat: the drink should be hot, not boiling — the alcohol and aroma evaporate first. Apple juice is better cloudy, from fresh pressing: clear juice will give a flat sweetness.
8. Eggnog
The main winter dessert of the Anglo-Saxon world — and a worthy finale to the New Year’s program, around three in the morning, for a second round at the table. A whole egg, cream, milk, and aged cognac, shaken with ice into a smooth spiced cream; topped with freshly grated nutmeg. Sounds scarier than it is: it tastes like melted ice cream with spices and character. One glass — and you can start unwrapping gifts again.
Ingredients
- Rémy Martin 1738 Cognac — 75 ml
- Simple syrup (2:1) — 15 ml
- Egg — 1 pc., fresh
- Cream — 15 ml
- Milk — 60 ml
How to prepare
- Shake all the ingredients with ice.
- Strain into a glass filled with ice.
- Garnish with grated nutmeg.
Tip: the egg should be the freshest, wash the shell; shake — twice as long as usual, a whole egg needs a workout. Grate nutmeg from a whole nut right over the glass: powder from a packet smells like dust. For a big group, multiply everything by six and blend it — egg nog keeps well in a pitcher for a couple of hours.
The evening's program is ready: Champagne cocktail and Kir Royale — to bid farewell to the old year, French 75 — for the countdown, Ambrosia and 'Atom' — for guests with character, mulled wine and punch — after a walk, egg nog — for a late-night dessert. From the shopping list beyond the usual table: bitters, cassis, sherry, and plenty of ice. And the main New Year's rule for a bartender: better to have fewer cocktails, but the right ones, than 'everything at once' — the celebration should last until morning with the guests.
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