Dried fruit, orange, brioche
Best sipped with a cigar, but decadent holiday foods are also natural partners.
Appearing in numerous cocktail books going back to the nineteenth century, this masculine drink is all flavor and pizzazz from the City of Big Shoulders. Recipes vary, but they always call for a sugared rim and a splash of bubbly. In its time, this drink—one of the greats of its age—was served as far away as London and Nice.
2 ounces (60 ml) brandy (Pierre Ferrand Ambre)
½ teaspoon Cointreau
1½ ounce (45 ml) Champagne (or crémant)
Dash of Angostura bitters
Granulated sugar, to rim the glass
Rim a coupe glass with sugar (technique, page 264). Stir brandy, Cointreau, and bitters with ice in a mixing glass, and strain into the prepared glass. Top with bubbly.