A New Year’s Party requires a special cocktail, complete with lots of bubbles. New Year’s Eve is all about the champagne, so if you’re making a cocktail, you better make it a champagne cocktail, which is exactly what I did when I made my Plum Sparkler. If you spent your fall packing fruit into brandy, like I did, a New Year’s Party is definitely an occasion that warrants cracking open one of those extra special jars. But if you didn’t, you should be able to find plum brandy at a good liquor store; just ask for Slivovitz or Slivovitsa. Believe it or not, plum brandy made from Damson plums is very popular in Eastern Europe. Of course it won’t take exactly the same as this homemade hooch based drink, but that’s a big part of the fun in mixology in my humble opinion. This cocktail has lots of sweetness to it, but the soda and sparkling wine balance it out perfectly. Just make sure to buy a brut sparkling wine to ensure this cocktail doesn’t get too sweet. You can always adjust the sweetness up and down by adding more or less of the lillet blanc and orange liquor. The flavors combine in a lovely and unexpected way. If you make this festive drink, I’m sure you’ll agree that my Plum Sparkler cocktail is subtle and sophisticated and just the right amount of sparkling gold to get the party started.
- 2 cups plum brandy (I made some with lemon plums this fall)
- 1 cup lillet blanc
- ½ cup orange liquor (triple sec, grand marnier, Cointreau, liquer 43)
- 2 cups dry sparkling wine (brut preferred)
- 2 cups sparkling soda
- plum slices to garnish
- ice
- On the morning of the party, place all the ingredients in the refrigerator. Just before your guests arrive, in a punch bowl, pour all the ingredients. Let guests serve themselves in flutes, coupes and wine glasses galore. Make sure to serve lots of ice on the side so that guests can choose their own temperature. It’ll only stay cool for a little while once it’s out on the table, so make small batches and refill frequently. You’re telling me you didn’t infuse any brandy this fall? No worries, you can buy it, but you will need to up the sugar quotient, it’s pretty intense stuff. Add a little more of the triple sec and start with half of the brandy amount. You may just find you prefer the much stronger Czech and Hungarian versions. Serve with plum slices as garnish.
- Want to just try one?
- 2 ounces plum brandy (if you didn’t infuse any, no worries, you can buy it, but you will need to up the sugar quotient, it’s pretty intense)
- 1 ounce lillet
- ½ ounce orange liquor (triple sec, grand marnier, Cointreau, liquer 43)
- 2 ounces sparkling wine
- 2 ounces sparkling water
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