29 Best Champagne Cocktails for New Year’s Eve (or Any Festive Occasion)
These Champagne cocktails are exactly what you need to welcome 2022 in style. Grab your flutes and start bookmarking these sparkling cocktail recipes for your holiday festivities. Some of these drinks pair the bubbles with fresh citrus or pomegranate while others lean on herbal or bittersweet liqueurs for added complexity. Keep this in mind: You don’t need to break out the finest vintage Champagnes for these concoctions; just start with bubbles you like to drink. Since different wines offer different levels of tartness and fruitiness, though, you may need to adjust the drinks to taste. If you’re making individual drinks, be sure to keep the Champagne cold to retain those lively bubbles and consider using a stopper if you’re not pouring out the whole bottle quickly. Having trouble picking a favorite? Never fear. While all of the Champagne cocktail recipes below are ideal for New Year’s Eve, you can make these drinks all year long whenever there’s something to celebrate.
Photo by Elizabeth Coetzee, Food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich3/31Champagne Cocktail
Before we get too far, we should zoom in on the classic Champagne cocktail that started it all. In this old-school drink, the bubbles are the star. Angostura soaked into a sugar cube adds a bit of spicy complexity. Garnish with a long citrus twist in your Champagne glass to make each sip feel extra-elegant.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton4/31Fleming Fizz
If you're looking for Champagne cocktails for New Year's Eve and wondering what alcohol mixes well with Champagne, Scotch might not come to mind as the first answer. But a little hit of peat smoke and the spice of ginger makes this festive take on the Penicillin into one of our favorite fizzy whiskey cocktails. If you love warming gingery drinks, do not skip this cocktail recipe.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton6/31French 75
Looking to add just a little something to a good bottle of bubbly? This cocktail is just the ticket, bringing together the bright, tart flavor of fresh lemon juice with the herbal, woodsy notes of gin. (You can make this drink with cognac instead, if you prefer.) Don't skip the lemon peel, it's essential. This drink is a great way to kick off your New Year's Eve dinner.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Lillian Chou7/31Lipstick Memory
It's red, it's green, it's holiday-perfect. This bitter, tart Campari-based drink is also delicious with fancy potato chips, which should obviously be the star of your New Year's Eve appetizers spread.
Photo by Daniel Krieger8/31Arancio Americano
In this recipe from Dale DeGroff's The New Craft of the Cocktail, bittersweet Aperol and fresh orange meet luscious vermouth and fizzy Prosecco. Is it a spritz? Is it a Champagne cocktail? We won't get too mired in the details—what's important is that it's delicious.
Photo by Kelly Puleio9/31Bitter French
This sparkling wine cocktail is somewhere between a French 75 and a Negroni. It's lightly bitter and very refreshing. Be sure to start with chilled Champagne, and try the drink with any of these New Year's Eve appetizers.
Christopher Testani10/31Saint-Florent Cocktail
This fizzy aperitif has a little lime juice to brighten it up, plus Aperol, gin, honey, and dashes of Angostura bitters. It's perfect for whetting your appetite for nibbling on a host of New Year's Eve food.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Nathaniel James, Food Styling by Simon Andrews11/31Champagne Punch With Brandy and Citrus
This bubbly punch makes eight servings; if you're a smaller household, feel free to cut the recipe in half. A mix of fresh grapefruit, fresh lime, and fresh lemon makes it extraordinarily bright and tangy. No cocktail shaker is required here, so it's ideal if you're focused on prepping a holiday feast.
Photo by Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott13/31Cran Royale
Cranberries and thyme make this rosy New Year's Eve cocktail feel festive. Now's the time to get out your fancy drink picks and load them up with cranberries.
Photo by Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott14/31Sparkling Julep
Here's a Champagne cocktail that's a little more festive than your standard Derby julep. Made with cognac, mint, bitters, simple syrup, and sparkling wine (cava works fine), it's bright and refreshing (and not too boozy). Smack those ice cubes into crushed ice, and serve with a lemon twist and a mint sprig for next-level aroma.
15/31Kir Royale
Photo by Stephen Kent Johnson, Prop Styling by Kalen Kaminski, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich16/31Cynar Spritz
Prosecco and grapefruit are bright and light; here, herbaceous, vegetal Cynar adds a bold, bittersweet, savory note. This one is perfect with charcuterie or these buttery, cheesy bites.
Peden and Munk17/31The Jimmie Roosevelt
Herbal Chartreuse, a good pour of cognac, and a bitters-soaked sugar cube make this Champage cocktail layered and delicious. (Extra Chartreuse is also good in hot chocolate, just FYI.)
Photo by Gabriella Imperatori-Penn18/31Pomegranate-Champagne Punch
Tangy, tannic pomegranate juice makes for a flavorful punch when mixed with white rum and sparkling wine. This is an easy one to divide in half for the Small-idays.
Jeffrey Schad20/31Pink Champagne Punch
This drink is just pomegranate juice, lemony simple syrup, lemon, and Champagne—if you're up for a little extra effort, start with tangy fresh pomegranate juice instead of the bottled stuff. Serve with our favorite crunchy mixed nuts.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks22/31The Mezcal Sunset
If you love mezcal cocktails, serve this vibrant, slightly smoky drink with your New Year's brunch.
Photo by Alice Gao, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Diana Yen24/31Champagne Punch with Ginger, Lemon, and Sage
Photo by Emma Fishman26/31Black Velvet
Creamy, fruity Guinness adds chocolate notes to this Champagne cocktail, and balances the wine with a bit of roasty flavor. Try this one with a chocolate dessert this New Year's Eve.
Photo by Ted Cavanaugh.27/31St-Germain Spritz
Feel free to start with a little less elderflower liqueur when you're making this spritz. As with all St-Germain drinks, you can always add more of this floral ingredient, but you can't take it away.
Photo by Ted Cavanaugh.28/31Cointreau Spritz
If you like mimosas, this sparkling cocktail is worth a try. Cointreau (or any other orange liqueur) emphasizes the flavor of fresh orange juice and adds a touch of sweetness.
Alexandra Grablewski29/31Sparkling Apple Cocktail
Cognac contributes a hint of caramel flavor to this easy apple juice-sweetened Champagne cocktail. Sip your way through while you destroy a plate of these goat cheese stuffed dates.
Photo by David A. Land, food styling by Carrie Purcell, prop styling by Alyssa Pagano30/31Pimm's Royale Punch
