How to celebrate Old New Year if you don’t like champagne

Well, I don’t like drinking champagne. It tastes sour, and in the morning the head is also heavy. And 2 weeks before the Old New Year, it already manages to get bored. Bubbles do not please, but you want a holiday again.

My friends and I are preparing a party to celebrate this national Russian holiday and we thought about how to replace champagne on the festive table.

Where did the tradition of drinking champagne for the New Year come from?

Initially, only aristocrats could afford champagne. They drank them at balls and social events, including those dedicated to the New Year. After the revolution, the holiday was canceled. Stop drinking champagne. The old tradition of celebrating the New Year with sparkling wine was revived in the 50s.

Stalin set the task – every family should have champagne for the holiday. By this, he wanted to show the West that a Soviet person can buy a bottle of sparkling wine, which means that wealthy citizens live in the Soviet Union.

In the 60s, artists at the Blue Light began to appear with a glass of sparkling wine. Since then, champagne has become an invariable symbol of the celebration of the New Year.

It is worth knowing that only wine that was produced in the Champagne region is considered champagne. Therefore, the traditional “Soviet Champagne” is not real champagne.

What drinks taste like champagne?

Perhaps, his close “relatives” will become an alternative to champagne. For instance:

  1. Italian Prosecco (Prosecco). The wine has a bright fruity taste with a citrus aftertaste.
  2. Spanish CAVA. Sparkling wine is obtained with a mild taste, the aroma is dominated by subtle, barely perceptible fruity notes.
  3. French Cremant (Kreman). Its taste is as close as possible in taste to champagne. It has the same noble aftertaste with fruity notes.

If you want something else, you can serve cider to the table. Its main advantages:

  • low alcohol drink;
  • with moderate consumption, there is no hangover syndrome;
  • cider contains a large amount of trace elements beneficial to health;
  • malic acid contained in the drink contributes to better digestion of food.

Although cider with its fruity aftertaste bears little resemblance to champagne, it can be used as an alternative to a drink. Moreover, cider is sold in the same bottle.

What drinks look beautiful and are suitable for celebrating the Old New Year

If you don’t like pure champagne. You can make cocktails based on it. Here are some beautiful recipes:

  1. Fizzy kiwi. In a blender, beat the kiwi fruit to a mushy mass. Pour it into a chilled glass. Add 30 ml orange juice. Gently pour in 30 ml of champagne there. It remains to decorate with a piece of kiwi.
  2. New Year’s morning. In a blender 1 tangerine with the addition of 1 tsp. brown sugar is mashed. Next, this mass is poured into a chilled glass. Pour in 100 ml of sparkling wine.
  3. Hugo cocktail. Crush 5 mint leaves in a glass. Pour in sugar syrup 2 tablespoons, add ice. Then add champagne and mineral sparkling water, 50 ml each. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Offer these cocktails to your guests, and they will definitely appreciate it. Even those who are not particularly fond of champagne will surely enjoy the unusual way of serving the drink.

Cocktails without champagne, which you can celebrate the Old New Year

Here are cocktail recipes for those who can’t stand champagne:

  1. Frosty storm. Pour ice into a separate bowl. Squeeze lime juice, pour in 50 ml of vermouth, Blue Curaçao liqueur (Blue Curaço) and 30 ml of tequila. Shake well and then pour into a chilled glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.
  2. Sidecar cocktail. Cognac 1 tbsp, Cointreau orange liqueur 2 tbsp are mixed in a glass. Half a glass of CAVA wine is carefully poured on top. Decorate with a slice of lemon.
  3. Margarita. The rim of the glass is first dipped in lime juice, then in salt. In a separate bowl, mix 40 ml of tequila, 15 ml of Cointreau (Cointreau) liqueur and lime juice. The resulting drink is filtered and poured into a glass. Decorate with a slice of lemon.

These drinks will be an excellent replacement for classic champagne. Making cocktails is not difficult at all. You just need to have the necessary ingredients on hand.

And what do you prefer to drink at the meeting of the Old New Year? Share your favorite Christmas cocktail recipes.

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