Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – Just because your 2021 holiday is different doesn’t mean it can’t be just as festive, celebratory, and meaningful as years past. Plenty of champagne bottles are going to get popped, even if we are celebrating alone.
And while it’s perfectly great to drink bubbly straight, the fizzy stuff is also awesome mixed into a killer champagne cocktail, so here are a handful of easy-to-make drinks to usher in a better, brighter 2021.
Champagne Cocktail
Flutes of champagne are passed out by the handful on New Year’s Eve, but a more interesting flute is one with the addition of bitters and a sugar cube.
INGREDIENTS
1 sugar cube
2-3 dashes Angostura bitters
brut champagne
DIRECTIONS
• Place a sugar cube in a chilled champagne flute, lash it with 2 or 3 dashes of bitters, fill the glass with brut champagne, and squeeze a lemon twist on top.
Air Mail
This cocktail is a picker-upper, but then again, what wouldn’t be, given honey, lime, golden rum, and champagne?
INGREDIENTS
2 oz. golden rum
1/2 oz. lime juice
1 tsp. honey
5 oz. brut champagne
DIRECTIONS
• Mix rum, lime juice, and honey thoroughly with cracked ice in a chilled cocktail shaker, then pour unstrained into a Collins glass.
• Fill with champagne.
Mighty Mimosa
Grand Marnier adds a little backbone to the classic brunch favorite.
INGREDIENTS
2 oz. orange juice
4 oz. brut champagne
1 tsp. Grand Marnier (optional)
DIRECTIONS
• Fill champagne flute 1/3 full of fresh-squeezed orange juice.
• Top up with brut champagne, then add Grand Marnier.
Blushing Mimosa
A tropical take on the Mimosa, with pineapple and grenadine, makes it perfect for ringing in the New Year in Puerto Vallarta.
INGREDIENTS
2 oz. orange juice
1 oz. pineapple juice
2 tbs. grenadine
brut champagne
DIRECTIONS
• Fill a champagne flute 2/3 full of the juice mixture.
• Top with champagne, then add grenadine.
Grand Royal
That Grand Marnier you dashed into your Mimosa? Use it again at night to dress up champagne – especially if that champagne isn’t exactly top-shelf stuff.
INGREDIENTS
3/4 parts Grand Marnier
4 parts champagne
DIRECTIONS
• Add Grand Marnier to a champagne flute, then top with champagne.
• Garnish with an orange twirl.
Mimosa Margaritas
Mimosa Margaritas are the best combos between the two cocktails. Orange juice and champagne spiked with tequila and some juice for extra zest!
INGREDIENTS
2 c. orange juice
1/2 c. tequila
1/4 c. lime juice
Lime wedge, for rimming glasses
Coarse salt, for rimming glasses
1 bottle champagne or prosecco
Orange and lime slices for serving
DIRECTIONS
• In a pitcher, combine orange juice, tequila, and lime juice and stir to combine.
• Rim glass with lime and dip in salt.
• Pour in orange juice mixture and top off with champagne.
• Add sliced oranges and limes to glasses and serve.
Arnold Palmer Mimosas
If you love Arnold Palmers, then yo need to try them as mimosas. The perfect drink for New Year’s Day brunch – or anytime really!
INGREDIENTS
3 c. lemonade
2 c. iced tea
1 bottle champagne or prosecco
Raspberries, for serving
Lemon wedges, for garnish
DIRECTIONS
• In 6 champagne flutes divide lemonade and tea evenly.
• Top each glass off with champagne.
• Add a few raspberries and a lemon wedge for garnish.
Rudolph Spritzer
Need a perfect cocktail to kick off the new year? Rudolph Spritzers are the perfect thing. A guaranteed hit, this cocktail is sure to bring plenty of good cheer.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 c. cranberries, frozen
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
Ice
2 c. cranberry juice
1 c. orange juice
1 c. vodka
1 c. champagne or prosecco
DIRECTIONS
• In a small bowl, combine frozen cranberries and sugar.
• Fill 4 glasses with ice. Divide cranberry juice, orange juice, and vodka between glasses.
• Top each glass off with Prosecco and garnish with sugared cranberries.
No matter what you’re doing this December 31 – whether you’re watching a New Year’s movie, planning your 2021 resolutions, or hosting a quarantine NYE party with members of your immediate household – you’ll want to have one of these festive drinks in hand.
Nothing feels hopeful like a new year ushered in with a bubbly drink, so let’s all toast to better days ahead.
