Sparkling cocktails
5 drinks in Barello's library use sparkling. Each one lists what it needs, so you can see at a glance which are already within reach.
What cocktail can I make with sparkling?
Barello's library has 5 cocktails that use sparkling. The ones needing the fewest other bottles are Bellini, Kir Royale and Mimosa. Every recipe below lists exactly what it takes, so you can see which are already within reach.
About sparkling
What it is
Wine with bubbles, used here as the thing that lengthens the drink rather than the thing you taste first. Every drink in this group is built on it.
Where it came from
Bubbles in wine were a fault before they were a feature, and were called the devil's wine for blowing up cellars. The second fermentation was brought under control in Champagne over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the tank method that made it cheap arrived in Italy in the early twentieth.
Worth knowing
Champagne is a place, not a style, and only sparkling wine from that region may use the name. It is bottle fermented, which gives the bready, biscuity note. Prosecco is Glera, fermented in tank, fruitier and softer, and is what a Bellini actually calls for. Cava is Spanish and bottle fermented like Champagne. Crémant is French, made the same way, from anywhere but Champagne. For a cocktail, dry and cheap beats fine and expensive: anything delicate is lost the moment it meets the peach purée.
The sparkling list 5
Deciding what to buy? What every home bar needs counts which bottles open the most drinks, and the two-bottle table says which pairs genuinely combine.
Looking for an app that does this on your phone? We ranked the cocktail apps, including ours, by their real store ratings.
Work it the other way round. Tick every bottle you own, not just the sparkling, and Barello lists what you can make tonight.
What cocktail can I make?