Champagne Cocktail
A sugar cube soaked in bitters, a little cognac and cold Champagne — one of the oldest named cocktails still made.
- Difficulty
- easy
- Prep time
- 2 min
- Strength
- 13.8% ABV
- Glassware
- Champagne flute
- Base
- sparkling wine
- Serves
- 1
Ingredients
- Sugar cube1 cube
One white or brown cube
- Angostura bitters2 dashes
Onto the cube
- Cognacoptional10ml
A later addition; leave it out for the original
- Champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled110ml
Garnish: Orange or lemon twist
Method
- Put the sugar cube on a bar spoon or saucer and shake two dashes of bitters onto it so it soaks them up.
- Drop the cube into a chilled Champagne flute and add the cognac, if using.
- Tilt the flute and pour the cold Champagne slowly down the side, in two goes, letting the foam settle in between.
- Express a strip of orange or lemon peel over the top and drop it in or hang it on the rim.
Compared with the IBA specification
The International Bartenders Association lists this drink among its Contemporary Classics. Its specification is a standard for training and competition — one reference, not the only right way to make the drink.
CocktailHQ
- 1 sugar cube
- 2 dashes angostura bitters
- 10ml cognac (optional)
- 110ml champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled
IBA
- 90 ml Chilled Champagne
- 10 ml Cognac
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- Few drops of Grand Marnier (optional)
- 1 sugar cube
IBA ingredients as published at iba-world.com, retrieved 29 October 2026.
Allergen information
Contains an ingredient commonly associated with:
- Sulphur dioxide and sulphites — usually (champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled)
Products vary, and this describes ingredients rather than the bottles you use — check every label. It is not a guarantee that a drink is suitable for anyone with an allergy. How this is worked out
Your version
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Glass and ice
No ice in the glass
Served up, the drink was chilled and diluted in the shaker or mixing glass and goes into a chilled glass without ice.
Over a large cube it stays cold longer, but keeps diluting — it becomes a different, slowly lengthening drink.
About 112ml poured over the ice
The recipe's champagne flute is typically 150–250ml.
- Workable:
- coupe glass, nick & nora glass, martini glass, rocks glass
- Oversized but acceptable:
- wine glass
- Unsuitable:
- highball glass
Needs a glass of about 118–124ml brimful.
How this is worked out
- A drink with no ice needs a little of the glass left empty — about a tenth — so it can be carried without spilling and has room for aroma.
- Filled to the top with cubes or packed crushed ice, roughly half to three-fifths of a glass is left for the drink.
- A drink built in the glass dilutes from the ice already there, so its melt water is not added on top.
- One large cube takes up roughly 65–125ml, from a sphere to a 5cm cube.
- Glass capacities are brimful and vary by maker — your own glass, measured with water, is the figure to trust.
Missing an ingredient?
Each swap below says what it changes and how to correct for it, so you can decide whether you are making this drink or a neighbouring one.
Instead of Sugar Cube
Best substitute: Simple Syrup
This is the sweet element in this drink.
Quantity: Use 5ml with the bitters stirred into it
Flavour impact: Sweet from the first sip rather than growing sweeter, and without the stream of bubbles from the cube.
What changes
Expect more texture. Still a good drink, and a slightly different one.
- Texture ↑
- The swap adds body — the drink will coat the mouth more and feel rounder.
- Character
- Both are sweet and neutral, and you lose clean, and you gain smooth. Numbers can't see this: two ingredients can be identically sour and still smell nothing alike.
To correct for it
- Pour a little less of it, or shake a touch longer, so the extra weight doesn't smother the drink.
Moderate confidenceShifts the drink
Make it better
- Pour slowly down the side of the glass. Champagne poured onto a sugar cube foams violently.
- It does not need a vintage Champagne: a good dry cava or crémant does the job, and the bitters cover the difference.
- Do not stir. The point is that the drink changes as the cube dissolves.
- Add the carbonated mixer last, after shaking or stirring the rest, and pour gently to keep as much fizz as possible.
- Express the citrus peel by pinching it, skin-side down, over the drink before dropping it in — this releases aromatic oils across the surface.
Rescue this drink
- Foamed over the top
- Pour the wine slowly down the tilted side of the glass, in two goes.
- Tastes flat
- The wine was not cold enough or the flute was warm. Chill both.
- Too bitter
- Two dashes is the ceiling on one cube; more soaks through and sinks as a bitter layer.
- Too sourgeneral guidance
- Add a little more sweetener (simple syrup or the cocktail's usual sweetening ingredient), a small amount at a time.
Make ahead & storage
Batch the base, finish at serving
Batch the 2 stable components days ahead and add champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled when you pour.
- Champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled:
- Carbonated — it goes flat in a bottle, and there is no way to put the fizz back.
Make it lighter
As written, about 1.7 UK units at roughly 13.8% ABV once diluted. 3 of six ways to lighten it work for this recipe. Units are an estimate of what is in the glass, not advice about drinking.
A smaller serveSupportedabout 1.1 units, 13.8% ABV
Every measure at two-thirds. The balance is untouched because the proportions are; the only trade-off is a smaller drink — use a smaller glass so it doesn't look stingy.
- Sugar Cube — as the recipe
- 1ml Angostura Bitters
- 73ml Sparkling Wine
A longer servePossible, with a trade-offsame 1.7 units, 8.3% ABV
Already long; more mixer thins the flavour further for a smaller drop in strength per sip. Note: the same alcohol in more liquid — weaker per sip, not fewer units.
- Sugar Cube — as the recipe
- 2ml Angostura Bitters
- 110ml Sparkling Wine
- 75ml Soda Water
Replace part of it with an alcohol-free bottleSupportedabout 0.9 units, 7.3% ABV
Half the sparkling wine with alcohol-free sparkling wine. Alcohol-free bottles are lighter-bodied than what they replace; at half-and-half the drink keeps most of its weight. Some alcohol-free bottles carry a trace of alcohol — check the label if that matters to you.
- Sugar Cube — as the recipe
- 2ml Angostura Bitters
- 55ml Sparkling Wine
- 55ml Alcohol-Free Sparkling Wine
Not recommended for this drink: reverse the ratio; split the base with a lower-strength modifier; give it the spritz treatment
- Reverse the ratio. There is no wine-strength modifier — vermouth, sherry or Lillet — to swap measures with.
- Split the base with a lower-strength modifier. The recipe has no wine-strength modifier to move measure into, and choosing one for it would be writing a new drink.
- Give it the spritz treatment. There is no distilled spirit at the base to swap for sparkling wine.
Or make something lighter by design: Alcohol-Free Mimosa. All lighter drinks
What it tastes like
The taste, and what drives it
off-dry, gentle, very light, sparkling — a long and lengthened drink served straight up, no ice.
Off-dry
Dry → Sweet
Sweetened enough to take the edge off without reading as a sweet drink.
What drives it: Sugar cube — carries the most sugar into the glass.
Gentle
Soft → Sharp
A trace of acidity, there to lift rather than to be noticed.
What drives it: Champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled — supplies the acidity.
Gently bitter
Gentle → Bitter
Bitterness as structure — it stops the drink tasting like squash without being the point.
What drives it: Angostura bitters — provides the bitterness.
Very light
Light → Rich
Almost weightless in the mouth — closer to a long soft drink than to a sipper.
What drives it: Champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled — adds most of the weight.
Very sparkling
Still → Sparkling
Carbonated, which lifts the aromatics and makes the drink taste drier than its sugar content alone would suggest.
What drives it: Champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled — carries the carbonation.
Moderate
Delicate → Bold
Moderate: assertive enough to hold its own, mild enough for a second.
What drives it: Champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled — is the most concentrated thing in the glass.
What you smell first
- Orchard fruitLeads
From Champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled
- Citrus peelLeadsBefore the first sip
From Orange or lemon twist
Aromas marked as sitting above the drink reach you before the first sip — skipping that garnish changes the drink more than its size suggests.
How it was worked out
Each reading comes from the recipe's own recorded taste scores combined with what each ingredient contributes, weighted by how much of it is in the glass. Almost everything in this drink has detailed ingredient data behind it.
How balance actually works →If it isn't right
What goes wrong with this drink, and why
Only the faults this particular recipe is actually prone to — open one for the likely cause, the adjustment, and what the adjustment costs you.
The fizz is the last thing in, and the first thing lost
Worth knowingCarbonation escapes to warmth, agitation and anything it can cling to — pulp, sugar crystals, a dry glass wall.
How to handle it: Chill the mixer hard, pour it against the inside of the glass, add it last, and stir once at most.
It's too sweet
- Likely cause
- Sugar cube is carrying the sugar here, and it is the easiest thing in the drink to over-pour — syrup clings to a jigger and a "splash" is rarely the same twice.
- What to change
- Cut sugar cube by about a third and rebuild. If it is already made, a little more of the base spirit or a dash of bitters will pull it back faster than starting again.
- What that does
- It will taste drier, and the base and any bitter or herbal notes come forward from behind the sugar.
- The trade-off
- Sugar carries body as well as sweetness, so you lose a little weight along with it.
It's too bitter
- Likely cause
- Angostura bitters is doing this deliberately, but bitterness also builds across a drink rather than announcing itself — the last mouthful is more bitter than the first even though nothing changed.
- What to change
- Lengthen it slightly, or add a small amount of sweetener. Do not add more of anything sour; acid sharpens bitterness rather than covering it.
- What that does
- The bitterness softens and the drink gets longer or rounder.
- The trade-off
- If you were hoping to keep it short and strong, this is the trade you are making — and sugar added to a bitter drink can make it taste cloying rather than balanced.
It tastes weak
- Likely cause
- Usually dilution rather than measurement: ice adds water as it chills the drink, and wet or small ice adds far more of it than cold, large ice does.
- What to change
- Use larger, colder ice and work faster. Adding more spirit fixes the symptom and unbalances everything else.
- What that does
- The drink gains definition without gaining sugar.
- The trade-off
- It will also read as slightly sharper, which is what 'more presence' usually means in practice — not everyone wants that.
It's gone flat
- Likely cause
- Champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled loses gas to warmth, to agitation and to anything it can nucleate against — pulp, sugar crystals, a dry glass.
- What to change
- Chill the mixer properly, add it last, pour it against the inside wall of the glass, and stir once at most.
- What that does
- The bubbles last, which also makes the drink taste drier — carbonation contributes a real acidity of its own on top of the lift.
- The trade-off
- A single gentle stir mixes less thoroughly, so the first sip can be stronger than the last. Lift from the bottom rather than stirring round.
It isn't cold enough
- Likely cause
- Served without ice, this drink is at its coldest the moment it leaves the mixing glass and warms from the first sip. A room-temperature glass takes a surprising amount of that cold straight back out.
- What to change
- Chill the Champagne flute first — ten minutes in the freezer, or filled with ice and water while you mix — and strain the moment you stop stirring.
- What that does
- The drink stays in its best range for longer, and the first sip tastes the way it was balanced.
- The trade-off
- Very cold drinks smell of less, because aroma needs some warmth to leave the glass. A smaller serve that is finished cold beats a bigger one that is finished warm.
It doesn't smell of anything
- Likely cause
- The aroma you are missing is probably citrus peel, which sits above the drink rather than in it — skipping or under-expressing the garnish removes it entirely.
- What to change
- Express the peel over the surface with the skin facing the drink, then drop it in. Herbs go in the glass, not on the side.
- What that does
- Aroma arrives before flavour does, so the whole drink reads as more intense without a single measure changing.
- The trade-off
- The oil does land in the drink, though — an over-expressed peel adds a faint bitterness to the first mouthful.
It tastes one-dimensional
- Likely cause
- With 3 components there is nowhere for complexity to hide — a drink this simple is exposed by design, so a dull one is usually a dull ingredient rather than a missing step.
- What to change
- Change the quality of what is there before adding anything new: a better base bottle, a dash of bitters. Bitters add layers at a scale nothing else matches.
- What that does
- More going on at the same strength and sweetness.
- The trade-off
- Adding a whole extra ingredient instead usually produces a muddier drink rather than a deeper one — and a better bottle costs more.
It's grainy or gritty
- Likely cause
- Sugar cube hardly dissolves once spirit and ice are in the glass — cold alcohol is a poor solvent for sugar — so undissolved crystals sit at the bottom and catch on the tongue.
- What to change
- Dissolve sugar cube first: crush it with the bitters or a barspoon of water until no grains remain, then add the spirit and ice. Or use about 5–7.5ml of simple syrup instead.
- What that does
- An even sweetness from first sip to last, with no sweet sludge at the end.
- The trade-off
- Syrup is quicker but loses the slow, rounded texture and the small ritual a sugar cube gives; it also adds a little water.
The garnish is all I can taste
- Likely cause
- The orange or lemon twist sits right under your nose, so it arrives before the drink does. Expressed peel oil is intense, and a peel left in keeps releasing it.
- What to change
- Express the peel over the drink, then discard it rather than dropping it in.
- What that does
- The garnish frames the drink rather than replacing it.
- The trade-off
- Too little and the drink loses its first impression — the garnish is doing a real aromatic job here, so ease off rather than leave it out.
It foams over when I top it up
- Likely cause
- Champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled releases its gas wherever it finds somewhere to form bubbles — the rough surface of ice, sugar, fruit pulp or a dry glass — and it does so fastest when it is warm or poured fast.
- What to change
- Chill Champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled well, tilt the glass, and pour slowly down the side or down a barspoon. Top in two goes, letting the first settle.
- What that does
- A full glass with the bubbles still in the drink rather than on the bar.
- The trade-off
- A slower pour takes a few seconds longer per drink, which adds up over a round.
There's a bitter, pithy edge
- Likely cause
- The oil in a orange or lemon twist is in the coloured skin. This recipe drops it into the glass, and any white pith that comes with it keeps turning the drink bitter as it sits.
- What to change
- Cut the peel thin with a peeler, so you can almost see through it, and scrape off any white before you express it and drop it in.
- What that does
- Bright citrus without the bitter, cardboard edge at the end of the drink.
- The trade-off
- A thin peel has less to hold and is fiddlier to cut.
Something else wrong? Open this drink in the Recipe Doctor.
Taste profile
- Sweetness
- 2/5
- Sourness
- 1/5
- Bitterness
- 2/5
- Strength
- 2/5
- Fruitiness
- 1/5
- Freshness
- 3/5
- Creaminess
- 0/5
- Smokiness
- 0/5
Nutrition & alcohol
Estimate only- Calories
- 115 kcal
- Sugar
- 5 g
- Carbohydrates
- 6 g
- Alcohol units (UK)
- 1.72
- US standard drinks
- 0.97
- ABV
- 13.8%
- Serving size
- 125 ml
Show calculation assumptions
Source: Calculated from standard measures
Calorie breakdown: ~95 kcal from alcohol, ~20 kcal from sugar and mixers.
Likely range: 86–144 kcal, reflecting the confidence level above — not a lab-measured figure.
Assumes sparkling wine at 12% ABV, cognac at 40%, one 4g sugar cube and no dilution.
These figures are estimates, not laboratory measurements — individual tolerance to alcohol varies. See our responsible drinking guidance.
Variations
Without cognac
The older form: sugar, bitters and Champagne only.
With a few drops of orange liqueur
The IBA spec allows a little Grand Marnier.
What kind of drink this is
The structure behind the recipe
A built build: a long and lengthened sparkling-wine-based drink, served straight up, no ice — sparkling in the mouth.
Long and lengthened
A short measure stretched with a mixer or juice — the drink's length, not its concentration, is the point of it.
Base
Champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled
Modifier
Cognac (optional)
Sweet element
Sugar cube
Bitter element
Angostura bitters
Technique
built
Components are poured into the serving glass over ice and stirred once, or not at all. Dilution happens while you drink rather than before.
The drink changes as you go: strongest at the first sip, longest and most diluted at the last. That drift is a feature of a long drink and a fault in a short one.
What it ruins: Nothing, but it cannot properly combine anything viscous — a syrup poured last will sit at the bottom.
Everything about building in the glass →How the technique works →Dilution
In the glass, as you drink
Water from ice typically makes up around 15% of the finished drink for a built build (commonly 10–20%). Dilution is an ingredient here, not a side effect.
Why dilution is an ingredient →Served
Straight up, no ice
Champagne flute · 125ml
Chilled during mixing and then strained away from the ice, so it arrives at its coldest and most concentrated and warms from the first sip — which is why 125ml is the right size for it.
Texture and aroma
Carbonation lifts aromatics and adds a slight acidity of its own, which is why a long drink can taste drier than its sugar content suggests.
Aroma arrives before flavour does. A citrus twist is expressed over the surface so its oils sit on top of the drink — skipping it changes the drink more than its size suggests.
Where to go from here
Each of these is here because of something specific about this drink, not as a standard set of links.
Where it comes from
Origin and family
Origin of the Champagne Cocktail
Recorded in Jerry Thomas's 1862 Bar-Tender's Guide as sugar, bitters and Champagne; the cognac was added later and is now usual, including in the IBA's spec.
The IBA uses 90ml Champagne and 10ml cognac; this uses a little more wine to fill a standard flute. Jerry Thomas's 1862 version has no cognac.
On drinks history
Cocktail origin stories are frequently repeated and rarely evidenced. Our history section separates what is documented from what is folklore rather than picking whichever version reads best.
History and culture →Try this next
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Use up your ingredients
Bought a bottle just for this? Here's what else it's good for.
Related tools
Scale this for a party
Work out bottles, mixers, ice and total alcohol units for any number of guests.
How far a bottle goes
Drinks per bottle, which bottle runs out first, batching — and the cost, at your own prices.
Recipe confidence
One of the best-documented nineteenth-century drinks; the cognac is recorded as a later addition.