13 Hotel Bartenders Share Their Best Bubbly Cocktail Recipes For New Year’s Eve
Toasting a flute of champagne at midnight may be the customary to ring in the New Year. But 2020, we can all agree, has been anything but ordinary. To bid farewell to 2020 and usher in 2021, we asked bartenders to share their favorite bubbly cocktails that are fit for celebrations.
With local twists on the classic French 25 to a mezcal spiked cocktail from Santa Fe, here are 13 special cocktails made with champagne (and other bubbles!) that hotel bartenders recommend.
In a Pear Tree
Gail Westmoreland from Serea at Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California loves using classic cocktails as inspiration. “In A Pear Tree takes a classic French 75 for a spin,” she says. “Combining the tangy pear and savory sage to a dry champagne creates a layered cocktail experience in which all components can share the spotlight.”
Ingredients:
1 oz gin
1 oz pear purée
0.75 oz lemon juice
0.75 oz sage honey*
Champagne of choice.
Directions: Add gin, pear purée, lemon juice, and sage honey into a shaker with ice, shake, and strain into champagne flute. Top with champagne and garnish with pear slice and sage leaf. *sage honey is made by adding a few sage leaves to a warm honey and water mixture until desired flavor.

In a Pear Tree cocktail from Serea at Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California.
Where My Beaches At?
“I describe this cocktail as a vacation in a glass and it’s my take on a sparkling piña colada,” says Jake Larragoite, bartender at Hotel Parq Central in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The egg white gives the cocktail a silky, velvety texture that creates this thick beautiful meringue when topped with sparkling wine, he says.
Ingredients:
1.5 oz Rum Haven Coconut Rum
1 oz pineapple juice
0.5 oz egg white
0.25 oz simple syrup
4 oz sparkling wine
3 dashes of Tiki Bitters
Directions: Combine rum, pineapple juice, egg white and simple syrup in a shaker with ice and shake well. Reverse dry shake and strain into large rocks glass. Top with 4oz. of sparkling wine and three dashes of Tiki Bitters.

Where My Beaches At cocktail from Hotel Parq Central in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
French Kissing
Liam Ransom from Halcyon, A Hotel in Cherry Creek, put a twist on the French 75, with a local gin.
“I have always enjoyed French 75’s and I have a crush on what Leopold Bros is doing here in Denver also, Colorado is known for peaches every year and the peach liqueur shines through the entire cocktail,” Ransom says.
Ingredients:
1 oz Leopold Bros Small Batch Gin
0.5 oz Leopold Bros Peach
0.75 oz Lemon Juice
0.25 oz Vanilla Simple Syrup
Directions: Shake all ingredients in a shaker. Double fine strain into a flute top with champagne and garnish with expressed lemon twist.

French Kissing cocktail from Halcyon, A Hotel in Cherry Creek.
East by West
Caleb Cherry, lead bartender from Tune-Up at Kimpton Armory Hotel in Bozeman, Montana tops this cocktail with a sprig of rosemary that gives it a nice olfactory quality as you sip. “What I love most about this cocktail is the balance of sweet notes against the dryness of sparkling wine,” Cherry says.
Ingredients:
1 oz vodka
0.25 oz Benedictine
Prosecco
1 oz mixed berry syrup
0.5 oz lemon juice
1 sprig of rosemary
Directions: Combine all but prosecco. Shake with rosemary spring, fine strain and pour into champagne flute. Top with prosecco and garnish with bamboo pick or fresh berries.

East by West cocktail from Tune-Up at Kimpton Armory Hotel in Bozeman, Montana.
Juniper Royale
Dominick Gudino from The Advenire Hotel in Greater Zion Utah shared this recipe. For his take on the cocktail, he uses Alpine Gin from Park City, a local, award-winning gin that has a blend of botanicals, including a woody and spicy juniper berry, as well as coriander seed, ginger, cardamom, lemon peel and more.
Ingredients:
1 oz gin
0.5 oz orange juice
0.5 oz cranberry juice
Dash grenadine
Top with champagne
Directions: Take all ingredients except bubbly and shake. Strain into flute and top with champagne.

Juniper Royale from The Advenire Hotel in Greater Zion Utah.
The Greater New Orleans French 75
Alan Walter, the spirits handler at Loa Bar within the International House hotel in New Orleans, uses a peach-infused brandy for this Crescent City twist on a French 75.
Ingredients:
1.5 ounces Cognac Park VS (best if you infuse it with peach)
0.75 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed
0.5 ounces peach syrup
1 dash Angostura Bitters
3 ounces sparkling rosé
Directions: For the Cognac Infused with Peach: Slice the peaches thinly and dehydrate. Infuse the sous-vide at 155 degrees Fahrenheit for 2.5 hours. For the Peach Syrup: Slice peaches in half and press flat. Allow peaches to simmer in a simple syrup [1:1] for 30 minutes. Mix the cognac, lemon juice, peach Syrup, and Angostura Bitters in a cocktail shaker. Serve in a champagne glass, and top with the sparkling rosé. Garnish with a lemon twist.

The Greater New Orleans French 75 from Loa Bar within the International House in New Orleans.
Miami ’35
The Miami ’35 is a tropical island twist on a French 75 that The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne, Miami created and that’s a nod to the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane in South Florida, says bartender Alex Rodriguez.
Ingredients:
1.5 oz Lighthouse Gin
1 oz hibiscus syrup (The Ritz-Carlton team adds lime to it)
0.5 oz lemon juice
0.25 oz St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur
Champagne
Directions: Combine all ingredients except champagne in a shaker. Shake with ice and strain into a champagne flute. Top with champagne. Garnish with a hibiscus flower and a lemon twist.

Miami ’35 from The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne, Miami.
The Desert Flower
Santa Fe is known for its Margarita Trail. But the City Different also knows how to ring in the New Year. The Desert Flower was created by John Cuviello, director of food and beverage and Sara Davis, beverage manager at La Fonda on the Plaza Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. With a gorgeous pink hue and festive effervescence, the cocktail delivers optimism — something that we all need going into 2021.
Ingredients:
1.5 oz mezcal
0.5 oz agave syrup
0.5 oz prickly pear syrup
Dry sparkling wine (La Fonda uses Gruet Blanc de Noirs for a special New Mexico touch).
Orange wheel for garnish
Directions: Combine mezcal, agave syrup, and prickly pear syrup in a champagne coupe. Fill glass with dry sparkling wine and garnish with orange wheel.

Desert Flower cocktail from La Fonda on the Plaza Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
FU2020
Created by The Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort’s lead bartender Marla White, the name of this cocktail sums up collective feelings about the year 2020. “FU2020 is our bid farewell to this year, combining sweet and smooth tastes notes to welcome a refreshing New Year,” White says.
Ingredients:
0.75 oz reposado (the hotel uses Volcan)
0.75 oz St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur
0.75 oz fresh grapefruit juice
1.5 oz Moët & Chandon Imperial Brut
Lemon twist for garnish
Directions: Add the first three ingredients into a shaker and shake with ice. Pour the mixture into your favorite glassware and top with 1.5 oz of Moët & Chandon Imperial Brut. Garnish with a lemon twist.

FU2020 cocktail from The Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The Golden Sour
This cocktail has vegans in mind. “Instead of using egg whites for the foam, we use aquafaba, which is a viscous water made with chickpeas and mimics the properties of egg whites,” says Victor Guerrero, mixologist from Casa Amate Restaurant at Andaz Mayakoba Resort Riviera Maya, Mexico.
Ingredients:
0.75 oz lime juice
0.75 oz lemongrass syrup
1.25 oz London dry gin
1 oz aquafaba
A pinch of edible gold flakes to take it up a notch
Splash of of Veuve Clicquot
Directions: Place the first five ingredients in the shaker, do a dry shake (without ice) so the aquafaba breathes and fluffs. Open the shaker to ensure there is foam (in case there isn’t, dry shake again).Add ice and shake again. Double strain into a cold coupe glass. Add a splash of Clicquot so the foam fluffs more. It also helps the gold particles float so it looks like the cocktail is made of gold).

The Golden Sour from Andaz Mayakoba Resort Riviera Maya, Mexico.
Steppin’ Out
“Exactly how we’d like our 2021 to go: Simple in its ingredients and how-to, but vibrant in color and flavor profile,” says Christopher Harding, bartender from Apron at Kimpton Overland Hotel in Atlanta, who shared the recipe for this champagne cocktail.
Ingredients:
1 oz. Absolut Elyx
1 oz Crème de Framboise
0.5 oz Lemon Juice
Moet Chandon
Directions: Shaken the first three ingredients and strain into a coupe glass. Top with a bit of Moet Chandon. Garnish with fresh strawberry or raspberry.

Steppin’ Out cocktail from Apron at Kimpton Overland Hotel.
The Resolution
You could even save this one for New Year’s Day. “ “We love how crisp and refreshing this champagne cocktail is,” says Grace Skarra from Harrah’s Resort Southern California in San Diego.
Ingredients:
1 oz blood orange juice
0.5 oz peach liqueur
Cranberry juice
Champagne of choice.
Directions: Combine blood orange juice and peach liqueur in a champagne flute. Give it a quick splash of cranberry juice, top with champagne and garnish with fresh cranberries and blood orange zest/peel.

The Resolution cocktail from Harrah’s Resort Southern California in San Diego.
The New Me
“The New Me is a mix of quality, spice, sass, and classic effervescence, says Antoine Hodge, the bar and spirits director from Baccarat Hotel New York.
Ingredients:
1 oz L’abricot du Roulot
0.25 oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
0.25 oz lemon
2 dashes Burlesque Bitters
Ruinart Rose Champagne
Directions: Add first four ingredients and shake in a mixing tin. Strain into a champagne flute and top off with champagne. Garnish with a lemon twist. Or, you could garnish with star anise.

The New Me cocktail from Baccarat Hotel New York.