New Year's Eve Champagne Cocktails 2026: 5 Easy Drinks and 8 Bottles from $15.99
New Year’s Eve falls on a Thursday this year, and the easiest way to make a house full of guests feel taken care of is a short menu of Champagne cocktails instead of a bar full of bottles. Five drinks cover everything: a crisp one, a floral one, a bitter one, a rich one and a rum one with mint. Every recipe below tops up with sparkling wine, and the eight bottles in this guide are in stock now at live prices.
If you are choosing the sparkling wine itself, our guides to Champagne, Prosecco and Cava and to Brut, Extra Dry and Demi-Sec explain what the label is telling you. For the midnight toast, see our Christmas sparkling wine gift guide.
The 8 bottles behind the five cocktails
The rule for mixing with bubbles
Do not pour your best Champagne into a cocktail. Cocktails want a dry, clean, fairly inexpensive sparkling wine, and the savings go toward a better bottle for the countdown. Rischio Reale Pirosecco ($15.99) is an organic, vegan, Extra Dry sparkler from Veneto made by the Charmat method, with golden apple and ripe pear, and it is the bottle to buy by the case for spritzes. Raventos i Blanc Brut Blanc de Blancs ($22.99) is a certified organic, 18 month lees-aged sparkler from Catalonia with citrus, green apple and a saline edge, and it is dry enough for a French 75. Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut ($32.99) is a California sparkler with more richness and toast, which makes it the one to pour on its own after midnight. Browse the full sparkling wine collection and the Champagne collection for more.
1. The French 75
This is the one everyone expects. Shake 1 ounce of gin, half an ounce of fresh lemon juice and half an ounce of simple syrup with ice, strain into a flute or coupe, and top with about 3 ounces of dry sparkling wine. Add a long lemon twist. Fords Gin ($27.99) is a good fit because it was designed for mixing, with a juniper backbone that stands up to the lemon. Our French 75 guide covers eight gins for the drink, and the gin collection has more.
2. The St-Germain spritz
The easiest and most floral drink on the menu. Build 1.5 ounces of St Germain Elderflower Liqueur ($39.99) over ice in a wine glass, add 3 ounces of sparkling wine and a splash of soda, and finish with a lemon twist. It tastes of pear, lychee and white flowers, and it suits guests who say they do not like strong drinks. You can find it with other bottles in the cordials and liqueurs collection, and our comparison of the French 75, Kir Royale and St-Germain spritz shows how it stacks up.
3. The Aperol spritz
Pour 3 ounces of Prosecco, 2 ounces of Aperol Aperitivo ($33.99) and a splash of soda over ice, and garnish with an orange slice. The classic ratio is three parts sparkling wine to two parts Aperol and one part soda. It is bright, bittersweet and low in alcohol, so it is a good opener for a long night. Our Aperol spritz guide goes into more detail.
4. The Champagne cocktail with cognac
The oldest drink here and the most elegant. Soak a sugar cube with 2 or 3 dashes of aromatic bitters in a flute, add a quarter ounce of Hennessy V.S Cognac ($47.99), and top with chilled brut sparkling wine. The sugar fizzes up in a thin stream of bubbles, and the cognac adds a warm, fruity depth. Our Sidecar guide and the cognac collection have more ways to use the bottle.
5. The Old Cuban
A modern classic that suits a party because it tastes like a mojito with a Champagne finish. Muddle six mint leaves gently in a shaker with three quarters of an ounce of lime juice and an ounce of simple syrup, add 1.5 ounces of aged rum and 2 dashes of bitters, shake with ice, strain into a coupe and top with 2 ounces of sparkling wine. Appleton Rum Estate Signature Blend ($25.99) is a Jamaican blend with orange peel, spice and a little funk, and it is the right price for a mixer. See more in our rum collection.
How much to buy for the night
A 750 ml bottle holds about 25 ounces. That is five generous 5 ounce pours of straight sparkling wine, but eight cocktails that each use 3 ounces as a topper. For a party of twenty with two cocktails each, plan on five bottles of sparkling wine for the drinks, plus a separate bottle per five guests for the midnight toast. For spirits, one bottle of gin, rum or cognac covers about twenty cocktails at the quantities above, and a bottle of Aperol or St-Germain covers around fifteen. Chill the sparkling wine for at least four hours, and keep an ice bucket of backups.
Glassware, garnish and ice
A flute keeps the bubbles lively for longer, but a coupe is easier to hold with a coat in the other hand and looks better with a twist. If you only own one type, choose the flute. Cut lemon and orange twists an hour ahead and keep them in a covered bowl, and slice a few orange wheels for the spritzes. Use big, clear ice for anything built over ice, because small cubes melt fast and flatten the drink. Chill the glasses in the freezer for fifteen minutes if you have room, since a cold glass slows the foam and keeps the drink crisp through a long toast.
Matching the drink to the guest
Guests who like spirits will go for the French 75 and the Old Cuban. Guests who usually order wine will prefer the St-Germain spritz or the Aperol spritz, which are lighter and less sharp. Whiskey and cognac drinkers will appreciate the Champagne cocktail with its splash of Hennessy. Put a small card by each station with the name and the three ingredients, and set out a pitcher of the lemon and simple syrup mix so people can build their own French 75 without a shaker. It keeps the host at the party instead of behind the bar.
Order before the shipping rush
Popular sparkling wines sell out in the final two weeks of December, and carriers slow down. Order by the middle of the month so everything is chilled and ready. If you are hosting, our 12-bottle home bar guide shows the rest of the setup, and the cocktail collection has mixers and tools. For gifts, check the Christmas vodka and gin gift guide, and for something to open after the toast, our best Champagne under $75 page ranks the bottles worth saving. Browse best sellers to see what other hosts are buying.
