LCBO Food & Drink Autumn 2018

PARTY STARTERS  GREET YOUR GUESTS

Start the evening by putting a spark in your sparkling wine! As well as Champagne, there are many kinds of bubbly out there for all sorts of prices. Cava is ideal and here are two more—a Prosecco and a crémant—that are excellent examples of their styles. And the Prosecco is just right for our Welcome Punch on previous page. Dress UpYour Bubbly!

MAKE A SPLASH Quick additions that turn bubbles into cocktails.

Paul Delane Crémant de Bourgogne  LCBO 214981, $20.45 Val d’Oca Prosecco  LCBO 340570, $18.75

Fruitful Ideas Make a Mimosa by mixing 2 oz fresh orange juice with 3 oz bubbly. Or a Bellini with 1 oz fresh puréed white peach and 4 oz bubbly. Muddle 3 or 4 raspberries or blackberries in the bottom of the flute with 1 tbsp (15 mL) of Chambord Royale Raspberry Liqueur ( LCBO 111443, $42.20) and top up with bubbly—beautiful!

Nelson’s Blood A little-known masterpiece that’s equally good after dinner. Pour 1 oz ruby port into a Champagne flute; Sandeman’s Ruby Port ( LCBO 23366, $16.15) is perfect. Slowly add 3 oz tart brut bubbly.

that’s the spirit !

A spoonful of a liqueur or aperitif is all you need to turn a flute of bubbly into something extraordinary. If you want a layered-looking drink with a colourful layer sunken at the bottom, add a liqueur like Southbrook Framboise ( LCBO 341024, 375 mL, $19.95) or, for a turquoise Instagram moment, McGuinness Blue Curaçao ( LCBO 631200, $18.95) to the bubbly, tipping it carefully against the inside of the glass. If you want the ingredients to mix, add the bubbly very slowly to lighter apertifs like Aperol ( LCBO 176834, $27.30). Twists of orange zest or a couple of fresh raspberries make ideal garnishes.

The Kir Royale The great Burgundian cocktail is named for Felix Kir, the deputy mayor of Dijon during World War II and a hero of the French Resistance. Add 1 oz Labbe François Cassis ( LCBO 57281, $25.75) to 4 oz Crémant de Bourgogne. Garnish with an orange twist.

22  FOOD & DRI NK AUTUMN 2018