[1] Celebrate Bastille Day with a French 75 cocktail (photo © Tanqueray).

[2] Invented in Dijon, France, Kir and its variations have a base of crème de cassis, blackcurrant liqueur (photo © Chandon USA).

[3] Cheers (photo © Champagne Bureau).

Today’s tip will help you make a perfect champagne cocktail, with advice from the experts at Cabo Flats.

Along with the cocktail best practices, we’re rolling in today’s food holiday. Well, it’s sort of a food holiday, since it concerns one of the great culinary countries of the world.

It’s Bastille Day in France, commemorating the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 that launched the French Revolution. Just as the holiday we call July 4th is formally named Independence day, the official French name for Bastille Day is La Fête Nationale (The National Celebration), and commonly Le Quatorze Juillet (the fourteenth of July).

Today, make your cocktail something French. First and foremost, we love the Kir and Kir Royale, invented by a mayor of Dijon, France. The Kir Royale recipe, made with sparkling wine, is below.
 
 
RECIPE #1: FRENCH 75 COCKTAIL

Made from gin, Champagne, lemon juice, and sugar, the French 75 is attributed to bartender Harry MacElhone, created in 1915 at the New York Bar in Paris (later called Harry’s New York Bar). Some say it was actually the idea of American officers who frequented the bar.
 
The drink was said to have such a kick that it felt like being shelled with the powerful French 75mm field gun. The gun was also called a Soixante Quinze (the number 75 in French) and a 75 Cocktail.

Ingredients Per Cocktail

 
Preparation

1. SHAKE the ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker.

2. STRAIN into a rocks glass or Champagne coupe and top with Champagne. Garnish with lemon peel.
 
 
RECIPE #2: KIR ROYALE

There are many variations of the original Kir cocktail. There is also a “cousin” made with Chambord, raspberry liqueur.

If you have Chambord but not crème de cassis you can substitute it. This creates a Kir Impériale.

Ingredients For 4 Cocktails

 
Preparation

1. PLACE 4 Champagne flutes in the freezer for 15 minutes. Remove and add 1 tablespoon of the liqueur to each flute.

2. FILL each flute to the top with Champagne and serve immediately. If you want a more fruity flavor, use more liqueur.

According to the expert mixologists at Cabo Flats, whatever you’re mixing up, you need:

1. Balance. Balancing the amount of alcohol with bitter taste to sweet taste. Some believe that more alcohol is better, but the taste has to be considered. Correctly measure the alcohol, mixer, and sweetener.

2. Fresh Juice. Whether it’s fresh-squeezed orange juice, pink grapefruit juice, lemon juice, or lime juice – it is extremely important to use fresh-squeezed juice and nothing packaged or pasteurized.

3. Sweetener. Agave needs to be used with tequila, simple syrup needs to be used for vodka or gin. For brown spirits, according to Cabo Flats, you should use pure cane sugar.

4. Quality of Alcohol. Some people think you can get away with cheap (low-quality) spirits, but they will ruin your drink every time.

5. Final Touch. The last component of a perfect cocktail is the garnish: foam, fruit, oil, rim, and savory garnish (celery, olives, shrimp, etc.). This will have a huge effect on the taste and look of the cocktail.
 

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*CONSIDER OTHER SPARKLERS. Sparkling wines from other regions are more affordable than Champagne and make more sense in this recipe, given that the strong currant flavors will cover the delicate toastiness of Champagne. Consider Asti and Prosecco from Italy, Cava from Spain, Crémant from France (eight different regions produce it), Espumate from Portugal and Sekt from Germany. Also consider sparklers from Australia, Austria, New Zealand, South Africa, the U.S. and other countries We often use the inexpensive but delightful [yellow tail] from Australia, and especially the rosé [yellow tail] (yes, that’s how the winery spells it!).