Blackberry Lime Fizz

Happy New Year! Here’s to 2017! We hope this year brings you many reasons to raise a glass with friends.

For our New Year’s Eve dinner, we wanted a champagne-style cocktail without resorting to cliché. The recipe we followed is based on a recipe published in Style at Home magazine December 2016; it fit the bill.

Champagne cocktails go back more than 150 years, according to my research; the basic recipe is 9 parts champagne to 1 part cognac, poured over a sugar cube and two dashes of bitters, à la an Old Fashioned. Various champagne cocktails show up in literature and films throughout the early twentieth century. Today, champagne cocktails tend to be reserved for celebrations, such as wedding dinners, birthdays, and holidays.

Ingredients

Here’s how we made our fizzes. Note that the recipe makes two drinks.

  • 12 blackberries
  • 4 fresh sage leaves
  • 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
  • 1 tbsp. simple syrup
  • 2 oz. elderflower liqueur
  • 8 oz. sparkling rosé, chilled

Place 3 blackberries in each of 2 glasses; muddle the remaining 6 blackberries with the sage leaves, lime juice, and simple syrup. Add the elderflower liqueur and shake with ice. Strain into the garnished glasses, then top with rosé. Serve promptly, using additional sage leaves as garnish, if desired.

The verdict: So yummy! This recipe is nicely balanced — sweet, but not overly so, with the sage adding some depth — and the fresh lime juice adds lovely tang. I would definitely drink this cocktail again, even without a holiday.

 

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