Mandarin 75
ready for the stroke of midnight
Place the flutes in the fridge for half an hour or in the freezer for ten minutes.
Shake the gin, mandarin juice, lemon juice and sugar syrup with plenty of ice for ten seconds.
Double-strain into the chilled flute so no pulp or ice chips end up in it.
Top up slowly with champagne or cava; pour along the inside of the glass so the bubbles stay intact.
Squeeze a strip of mandarin peel over the glass as a twist and hang it on the rim.
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Batching for midnight
Ten guests, twelve clock strikes, and one shaker: that won't work. So prepare the base a few hours in advance. For ten glasses, mix 30 cl gin, 20 cl fresh mandarin juice, 10 cl lemon juice, and 10 cl sugar syrup in a bottle, plus 10 cl cold water. That water replaces the melting water you would otherwise get from the shaker; without water, the cocktail is too sharp. Strain the juice beforehand, so all the bottle needs is a place in the refrigerator. At five to midnight, pour 8 cl of the base into each chilled flute and top up with 7 cl of bubbles. One 75 cl bottle is enough for ten glasses. Chill the bubbles to 6 to 8 degrees, so you can pour calmly without the foam spilling over the rim. Keep a bottle of non-alcoholic bubbles with the same mandarin juice ready for anyone who isn't drinking.
The right glass
At midnight, the flute is the best choice. The narrow glass keeps the bubbles fizzy the longest, and between the countdown, fireworks, and New Year's wishes, a glass can easily sit for ten minutes. Choose an 18 to 26 cl flute, so it holds 15 cl of cocktail with room for foam. A coupe looks beautiful on the table at dinner, but lets the bubbles escape faster. The Champagne Cocktail works in both. View the champagne flutes.
RCR Adagio Champagne Flute 18 cl (6 pieces)
Bohemia Columba Champagne Glass / Flute 26 cl (6 pieces)
Both sets together € 85,90.
The right tools
For these New Year's Eve cocktails, in addition to the glassware you use a Boston shaker, a jigger for precise measuring, a cocktail strainer, a fine strainer for double straining and a citrus squeezer. These are the bar tools we use ourselves; you'll find everything in our bar tools & cocktail sets.
Glassware set (our choice 01) + 5 bar tools together € 149,70.
What do you make these New Year's Eve cocktails with?
For these New Year's Eve cocktails, you need champagne, prosecco and gin. Popular bottles include Veuve Clicquot and Taittinger. On each drinks page, you'll find the alcohol percentage, what it tastes like, which cocktails it works well in and which glass you need.
Seven cocktails for New Year's Eve
Good to know
Champagne, cava or prosecco
You don't need to buy expensive champagne for cocktails, but the type does make a difference. Champagne and cava are made in the same way, with a second fermentation in the bottle, and have fine, firm bubbles and a dry taste with a hint of bread. Cava is usually much cheaper. Prosecco ferments in a tank, is fruitier and softer, and works well in sweeter cocktails such as the Sgroppino. Check the label: brut is drier than extra dry, however contradictory that may sound. Choose brut for the Mandarin 75 and the French 75.
How to open a bottle of champagne safely
A bottle of sparkling wine is under five to six bars of pressure, more than twice as much as a car tire. So never point it at people or lights. Remove the foil, keep your thumb on the cork and loosen the wire with six half-turns. Keep your thumb in place. Hold the bottle at an angle of about 45 degrees, grip the cork firmly and turn the bottle, not the cork. The cork will then come loose with a soft sigh instead of a bang. A well-chilled bottle foams less than a lukewarm one.
How many bottles of bubbly do you need
For toasting at midnight, count on one glass per guest, and two more for the rest of the night. From a 75 cl bottle, you can pour six 12 cl flutes of champagne, or ten cocktails with 7 cl of bubbles, such as the Mandarin 75. So for twelve guests who only drink a cocktail at midnight, you need two bottles. If they drink three glasses of champagne throughout the night, you will need six. Buy one extra bottle: it will come in handy on New Year's Day for a Mimosa with breakfast.
Alcohol-free toasting at midnight
Those who do not drink also want a flute of bubbles in hand at midnight. Non-alcoholic sparkling wine is the easiest option and looks exactly the same in the glass. To make the Mandarijn 75 without alcohol, leave out the gin, double the mandarin juice to 4 cl, and top up with non-alcoholic bubbles or a dry tonic; tonic provides the bitter note that the gin would otherwise bring. A slice of fresh ginger in the shaker makes it spicier. More ideas can be found in the Mocktails and non-alcoholic spritz.
Frequently asked questions
Which cocktail do you drink at midnight?
A cocktail with bubbles in a flute: a French 75, a Kir Royal, or the Mandarijn 75 from this page. They are ready in a minute when the base is chilled in advance, and the flute keeps the bubbles in during the fireworks. Pure champagne with a strip of citrus peel is also, of course, an option.
Which glass do you use for champagne cocktails?
A flute holding 18 to 26 cl keeps the bubbles the longest and is therefore the best glass for midnight. A coupe looks more elegant on the table but lets the carbonation escape faster. For a Negroni Sbagliato with ice, use a tumbler. Find all models in the champagne glasses collection.
Can you make champagne cocktails in advance?
Only prepare the base without the bubbles. Mix the spirit, juice, and syrup in a bottle up to a few hours in advance, adding 1 cl of cold water per glass to replace the melted ice from the shaker. Keep the bottle cold. Only add the bubbles to the glass when serving; otherwise, they will be gone within fifteen minutes.
How cold should champagne be?
Between 6 and 8 degrees. Put the bottle in the refrigerator for three hours or in a bucket with ice and water for twenty minutes; ice alone cools more slowly because it only touches the bottle in a few places. Colder than 6 degrees is fine, but then you will taste less of the wine.
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