Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkling cocktails

My heart lies with whiskey, but I feel like I'm at my best with gin. It was, after all, my first crush in the liquor world.

We had decided upon cocktails that bubble. About a week earlier, I had stumbled on an idea that would be ideal for this. Among the tastiest drinks out there is a French 75: a shot of gin hidden in a refreshing glass of champagne and lemon juice. It's aptly named, since it seems classy from afar, but will quickly knock you on your ass like the piece of artillery for which it is named. Even tastier, though, is an Aviation: gin, lemon juice, maraschino with a hint of violet liqueur in a harmony that would be the envy of any barbershop quartet. You can see how there is some overlap here. I'm calling this an Ack-Ack, from the WWII anti-aircraft guns, and it is good.

The Ack-Ack

• 1 T. Gin (I used Boodles to decent results, but only because I was serving to a lot of people)
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1/2 T. Maraschino
• 1/2 t. Creme de Violette (Rothman and Winter, natch)
• 2+ T. Prosecco, the dryer the better.

Nothing fancy about the preparation. Mix everything but the sparkling wine in a flute if you can, then top it off.

The Story So Far: Stumbling Dragon

Although I consider myself a junior mixmaster, I've had a few successes over the past few months. These are my favorites:

Sage Battle: I tried to make a sage julep here. It wasn't particularly sagey, but it turns out that bourbon is delicious. I'd like to revisit sage in the future, but I found it to be tricky the first time around.

The South Will Rise Again: The idea with this drink was to capture the platonic ideal of "swamp," without actually tasting like swamp water.

Swamp Thing (Original)

• 3/4 oz Bourbon
• 3/4 oz Green Chartreuse
• Top off with club soda

Sparkling: My favorite this time was a traditional cocktail – Wikipedia claims that it was first invented in 1861. I think that choosing the right beer makes all the difference, although I suppose it would be more correct to say that it makes 50% of the difference. The recipe calls for stout, but since the stout is going to be mixed, I think that choosing one that is a bit more reserved is a good idea. I went with New Holland's "Dragon's Milk," which is technically not a stout, but is dark, malty, and a bit creamy. I prefer something a bit more bitter for drinking straight, but it worked well here.

Black Velvet (Traditional)

• 1 part Dragon's Milk
• 1 part champagne

Some recipes suggest that you should float the champagne on the stout. I think it's much tastier, and more attractive, to mix them.

Sweet Vermouth: I wound up putting together a variation on the Americano. Although this sounded pretty tasty by itself, I didn't have any Campari on hand, and wanted to try something a little different. I think the result is quite palatable.

Ceco (Original)

• 3 parts sweet vermouth
• 2 parts Becherovka
• dash orange bitters
• splash of club soda

If you're not familiar with it, Becherovka is a Czech bitters (thus "Ceco"). Actually, I would describe it as a clove liqueur, but the important thing is that it is tasty, and now not too hard to find in the USA. It's not nearly so aggressive as Campari, so the resulting drink is a bit smoother than an Americano. The orange bitters were suggested by my fellow mixmasters, and greatly improve the drink. No, clove+orange=tasty should not be a surprise. Both of the main ingredients are pretty sweet, so the club soda helps round things out.