When it comes to choosing a Champagne to mix with I prefer to go with the opposite of the rest of the drink. If it’s mostly made of sweet mixers (like the Accomplice below), I like to go with the drier styles like brut or extra dry, but when it comes to the cocktails with drier ingredients, a great demi sec sweetens everything up.

Stoli Accomplice

• 1 oz simple syrup
• 2 oz Stolichnaya vodka
• 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
• Champagne
• 3 strawberries
• superfine sugar for rimming

Muddle three strawberries and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Add the vodka and lemon juice. Shake well. Strain into a sugar-rimmed martini glass. Top with Champagne.

Beautiful Boat (pictured)

• 40 ml Rose Champagne
• 50 ml Cape North Vodka
• 2 mint leaves

Shake the vodka and mint in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Float Champagne over top.

Vampire Kiss

• 1 1/2 oz Finlandia Vodka
• 1 1/2 oz Korbel Champagne
• 3/4 oz Chambord
• red sugar for rimming

Rim the glass with red sugar (use food coloring). Pour vodka and half of the Chambord in a martini glass. Top with Champagne. Pour the remaining Chambord over the back of a spoon to make it float.

French Pear Martini

• 1 1/2 oz St. Germain liqueur
• 1 1/2 oz pear vodka
• Champagne
• super-fine sugar for rimming

Rim a cocktail glass with super-fine sugar. Shake liquors in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Strain into the prepared cocktail glass. Top with Champagne.

Zen Latte

• 1 1/2 parts Zen green tea liqueur
• 6 parts steamed milk
• matcha powder for garnish

Build in an Irish coffee glass or your favorite mug.

However, the beauty of warm Zen doesn’t stop there. Try it in a toddy too. All you need is a shot of Zen and some hot water, although I’ve been inclined to add rye whiskey and a bit of simple syrup for a slightly more interesting version.

Whispers of the Frost

• 1 1/2 oz whiskey
• 1 1/2 oz sherry
• 1 1/2 oz port
• 1 tsp sugar
• variety of fruit for garnish

Pour the whiskey and wines into a wine goblet filled with ice. Add sugar to taste, stir and garnish with fruit.

Offered as part of the Spirit World’s Winter Wonder cocktail recipe series.

Dreaming of Zen

• 1 oz Zen Green Tea Liqueur
• 1/2 oz Midori Melon Liqueur
• 3 oz mango juice
• white pepper
• 2 oz cream

Shake and strain into a Champagne flute, garnishing with mint leaves and a dash of grated nutmeg.

Part of The Spirit World’s Winter Wonder cocktail series.

In this new book, Natalie Bovis-Nelsen (who we all know from her always informative blog, The Liquid Muse) has tackled a subject that has plagued many women who enjoy a good cocktail but dread the nine months of staying dry because non-alcoholic mixed drinks are typically pretty boring. The book is filled with fancy drinks that follow each stage of pregnancy and have a purpose beyond taste. Drinks include carrots that soothe the stomach during the morning sickness stage, a combination of pickles and ice cream for those weird cravings, creative baby shower drinks and ideas for gently reintroducing the body to alcoholic drinks afterward.

This is simply a fun, informative book that is filled with great ideas and even includes ideas for the dad who may want a slightly stiffer drink.

Read my full review of Preggatinis.

White Christmas Dream

• 1 oz vodka
• 1 oz amaretto
• 1 oz heavy cream
• nutmeg for garnish

Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with grated nutmeg on top.

Part of The Spirit World’s Winter Wonder cocktail series.

Frostbite

• 1 1/2 oz tequila
• 1/2 oz white crème de cacao
• 1/2 oz blue curaçao
• 1/2 oz cream
• maraschino cherry for garnish

Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass or in an ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Part of The Spirit World’s Winter Wonder cocktail series.

When the liquor began to flow 75 years ago one of the first spirits to make it back to the market was Dewar’s Scotch and they like to remind us of that still. They have gone so far as to create a separate website - www.DewarsRepealDay.com - and it’s a great place to fill your head with Repeal Day propaganda and fun party ideas, all with the slogan to “Stay Wet.”

For this very special anniversary of Repeal Day, here are a few Prohibition-era drinks…

Flapper - a fun rum martini in the spirit of the era.

• 1 1/2 oz Jamaican rum
• 1 1/2 oz dry vermouth
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
• 1 tsp sugar syrup

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass, garnishing with a cherry and orange slice.

The Fireside - often served by FDR at the White House because the “most important hour of the day…..the cocktail hour.”

• 1 1/4 oz Dry Gin
• 1/4 oz of sweet and dry vermouth
• 1/2 oz each of orange, lemon, lime and pineapple juice

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass.

Barbary Coast - when times were tough and some spirits less than desirable, the mixes got interesting, but this one’s pretty good and a reason to use that bottle of Dewar’s for pure authenticity, I’d pass on the bathtub gin though.

• 3/4 oz blended Scotch
• 3/4 oz gin
• 3/4 oz crème de cacao
• 3/4 oz heavy cream

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass.

Sidecar - this French creation was the definitive cocktail during “the drought” and is still a favorite.

• 1 1/2 oz Cognac
• 3/4 oz Cointreau
• 1/4 oz lemon juice

Shake and strain into a sugar-rimmed cocktail glass.

More Prohibition and Repeal info…

• The Story of The US Prohibition of Alcohol
• ProhibitionRepeal.com

• 1 oz Tequila Tezón Blanco
• 1/2 oz triple sec
• 1/2 oz fresh pomegranate juice
• Mumm Champagne
• pomegranate seeds for garnish

Pour the tequila, triple sec and pomegranate juice in a chilled Champagne flute. Fill with Champagne. Garnish with pomegranate seeds.

Part of The Spirit World’s Winter Wonder cocktail series.

English Christmas Punch

• 750 mL bottle dark rum
• 750 mL bottle dry red wine
• 3 cups strong tea
• 1 lb superfine sugar
• juice of 1 large orange
• juice of 1 lemon

1. Heat, but do not allow to boil, the wine, tea, lemon and orange juices in a saucepan or chafing dish.
2. Pour the heated mix into a heat proof punch bowl.
3. Place as much sugar as possible into a large ladle and any excess sugar into the punch bowl.
4. Saturate the sugar in the ladle with rum.
5. Ignite the rum and sugar in the ladle and pour it while still aflame into the punch.
6. Stir well and extinguish the flames.
7. Pour the remainder of the rum into the punch.
8. Stir well.
9. Serve in white wine glasses.

Part of The Spirit World’s Winter Wonder cocktail series.