HAPPY NEW YEAR!

LILLET CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL

2 ounces Lillet Blanc

2 ounces chilled Champagne

Orange peel for garnish

Happy Chinese New Year! Today is the official Chinese New Year — the most important traditional Chinese holiday. Usually I get to my favorite Cleveland Chinese restaurant, Li Wah, for dim sum and the dragon dance. That’s always an entertaining time, but really loud too.

I thought I’d celebrate in a little subtler way this year by making a LILLET CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL. It was a simple cocktail and quite delicious. To make it, you first need to find Lillet Blanc, a French aperitif wine that’s been around since 1872. I found it in the sweet wine section of my liquor store, right where it belonged. The store owner said he had one customer who loved it and bought it all the time.

I combined equal parts Lillet Blanc and Champagne, then put a little orange peel on the side to keep it festive. The result was a crisp, clean drink that tasted like sweet wine and champagne! It wasn’t very unique, but had high drinkability and I sucked down two with no problem.

Year 2012 is the year of the Dragon. Try a LILLET CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL before you breath any fire!

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie