Vodka Champagne Cocktail

When you want something beyond a standard sip of Champagne, this Vodka Champagne Cocktail will fit the bill perfectly! It includes lemon flavored vodka, which brings out citrus notes in the sparkling wine and complements it really well. With a touch of edible glitter floating in the bubbles, it's a delightful drink for any celebration!

This drink was clearly made for New Year's Eve, but it's great any time of year. It's light and doesn't require making any fresh juices or anything too complicated.

Many Champagne cocktails call for a sugar cube at the bottom of the glass. Using a sugar cube releases the bubbles, so that the drink constantly looks like it's fizzing. Instead, here I used edible glitter. The glitter creates the same effect, but amplified with the sparkles of the glitter itself floating through the cocktail. I think it's the best use of edible glitter!

For another festive Champagne cocktail, try out this Poinsettia Cocktail. I also think this Lillet Gin Cocktail would be perfect for New Year's Eve!

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Instructions
• Top tip
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Ingredients

To make this cocktail, here are the ingredients you'll need to have:

• Sparkling wine - Champagne, Prosecco, or whatever is your favorite sparkling wine. You can find sparkling wine for local delivery at if you're out!
• Lemon-flavored vodka - I used Crop Meyer Lemon vodka, which I really like because it's organic, and it has a great lemon flavor. It's a bit less alcohol than most vodka (35% instead of 40%). Any citrus vodka should work well here.
• Lemon bitters - I used Dashfire lemon bitters, since that's what I have on hand. Any brand of lemon bitters should work well.
• Simple syrup
• Edible glitter (optional but highly recommended) - I used Brew Glitter edible gold glitter, and it worked so well. The bubbles in the sparkling wine kept the glitter floating around in the drink so it didn't all sink to the bottom, and it looked beautiful.

Substitutions

If you don't have one of the ingredients, try these substitutions:

• Sparkling wine - if you don't have sparkling wine, you can use sparkling apple cider or lemon lime soda. It'll change the drink a lot, but you can compensate by adding in more of the vodka. It'll still look very festive!
• Lemon vodka - you can use plain vodka if you don't have lemon flavored vodka. If you're feeling ambitious, make your own lemon flavored vodka by soaking very thin lemon peels in vodka for a while and then straining them out. You can find more detailed instructions on how to make a lemon infusion in my post on Homemade Limoncello.
• Lemon bitters - if you don't have this, you can just omit it. Or, if you'd like to amp up the lemon flavor, use a squeeze of fresh lemon, or add a thin lemon peel as a garnish.
• Simple syrup - you can use honey or maple syrup instead.

Variations

Looking for ideas to jazz this cocktail up? Here are a few:

• Rosemary Champagne cocktail - use rosemary-flavored simple syrup and garnish with a fresh rosemary sprig. Rosemary is associated with the holidays and New Year's, so it's perfect for that time of year.
• Berry Champagne cocktail - change out the vodka to a raspberry flavored vodka, and garnish with some fresh raspberries floating in the glass.
• Sparkling Rosé - use a Rosé sparkling wine instead of regular white sparkling wine. This would pair well if you also substitute the vodka for a floral gin, like Hendrick's gin.
• Elderflower Champagne cocktail - substitute the vodka for an elderflower liqueur like St Germain.

Equipment

Since this is a pretty simple drink, you mainly just need to have:

• Serving glasses, preferably champagne flutes
• Bar spoon
• Cocktail jigger or small measuring cup, like this Barfly jigger
• Optionally, a small utensil to add in the edible glitter (a little goes a long way!)

Instructions

Start out by adding the edible glitter into your serving glass. You only need a tiny amount for one drink. Then, add in the lemon vodka.

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Use a bar spoon to measure and add the simple syrup, and then add in the lemon bitters. Give the drink a little stir with the bar spoon before you add the sparkling wine.

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Top up the drink with sparkling wine, and serve. You can also add in a curly lemon peel as a garnish for a little extra lemon flavor.

Hint: If you can, store your lemon vodka in the freezer or refrigerator before making this drink. It'll keep it more chilled without diluting it with ice.

Top tip

If you're anything like me and have issues opening a bottle of bubbly (carpal tunnel anyone?), check out this Champagne bottle opener. It makes it so much easier to grip the cork and guide it out of the bottle (although you still have to be careful of it spraying everywhere... I mean, it's part of the fun!)

📖 Recipe