20 The Barons celebrates its first birthday this weekend. Here we offer up a choice of cocktails for guests to enjoy their complimentary bottle of bubbly.
The TW1 Twickenham Film Studios (TW1) is just around the corner, celebrating their 100th anniversary, so here’s a classic Champagne Cocktail as drunk by Victor Lazlo in Casablanca.
1 sugar cube
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 measure Cognac
Champagne
Place sugar cube in a Champagne glass and soak with Angostura Bitters. Pour in Cognac then fill the glass to three-quarters with chilled Champagne.
The London 20
Better known as the classic French 75, and first made in 1915 at the New York Bar in Paris, this is the favourite tipple of St Margaret at 20 The Barons.
1 measure lemon juice
2 measures London Dry Gin
1 teaspoon sugar
Champagne
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, lemon juice, gin and sugar. Shake well. Strain into a glass tumbler filled with ice and fill to three-quarters with Champagne.
The Baron’s Bubbles
The Baron believes in only one Champagne cocktail, and in honing the technique to drink it in the best possible way.
1 bottle Champagne
Chill your bottle for three hours in the fridge or one hour in an ice bucket. To open, hold the cork with one hand, hold the bottle at 45º with the other and twist it, so that the cork eases out not with a pop but a ‘sigh’. Hold the Champagne flute at 45º and fill two-thirds full. Always hold the flute by the stem to prevent warming the glass as this will diminish your bubbles. Never swirl, this will also reduce the fizz. A heavy stopper with a tight seal will keep Champagne fresh for the following day provided it is still half full, which it may not be at this celebratory time of year. If it is only one-third full, The Baron believes it really is best to enjoy the moment.
Happy Birthday to The Barons and here’s to many more fine moments.
