Legend has it that in 1836, Queen Victoria walked into the gentlemen-only Reform Club in central London to order a drink. And a very specific drink: a Soyeur au Champagne, made with Champagne, cognac, and vanilla ice cream.
It wasn’t called that at the time, however: according to Ago Marone, master mixologist of The Connaught Bar, the bubbly creation was later named after the Reform bartender who made it, Alexis Benoît Soyer. “He was London’s first and foremost Victorian celebrity chef,” Marone explains. Originally the head chef at the private members’ establishment when it first opened its doors in 1836, Soyer’s talents behind the bar shined so brightly that he ended up leaving the kitchens to create lake-blue sparkling drinks and punch jellies. Yet it was this clever ice cream confection that remained “one of Queen Victoria’s favorite libations,” says Marone.
Marone serves Soyeur au Champagne at The Connaught, which was officially crowned as the Best Bar in the World in 2021. There, they call it a Velvet Champagne and tweaked the recipe ever so slightly: “Our Velvet Champagne is less sweet and fruitier than its predecessor,” he says. Yet the overall decadence of the drink remains the same.
And what better time to indulge in such a concoction than Christmas? Below, Marone and The Connaught share their (formerly secret) recipe for their Velvet Champagne cocktail.
The Connaught Bar’s Velvet Champagne Cocktail
Ingredients:
- 20 ml (2/3 fl oz) framboise eau-de-vie
- 20 ml (2/3 fl oz) orange cognac liqueur
- 5 ml (1 barspoon) sugar syrup
- 10 ml (1/3 fl oz) fresh lemon juice
- 20 ml (2/3 fl oz) raspberry puree
- 30 ml (1 fl oz) Champagne
- 1 small scoop good quality vanilla ice cream, preferably French
Preparation
- Combine the eau-de-vie, liqueur, sugar syrup, lemon juice, and puree in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously until the drink is sufficiently chilled.
- Strain into a copper-plated Moscow Mule mug filled with a piece of block ice.
- Top with the Champagne, then float a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the surface of the ice.
- Lift to blend and serve with a spoon!
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