Champagne

This refreshing cocktail can be a dessert, but it is also a great brunch drink. In Italy, Lucia likes to use Italian sparkling wine (such as spumante) instead of Champagne.

These refreshing cocktails, named for the French 75-millimeter howitzer cannon, starts a party off with a bang.

Passion-Fruit Champagne Cocktail

This drink is sometimes known as a Napoleon.

This variation on the Champagne cocktail skips the standard Angostura bitters in favor of herbal, honeyed Benedictine liqueur and fragrant crème de cacao.

This intoxicating champagne cocktail was named after a French 75-millimeter gun used in World War I. Many American bartenders claimed to have invented the drink. One recipe, from 1919, called for absinthe, Calvados, and gin, but no champagne. Supposedly, the champagne version was introduced at Harry's New York Bar in Paris in 1925. Or the cocktail might have originated with American soldiers in Paris, who added gin and liqueur to champagne to crank up its potency.

This variation on the traditional champagne cocktail is spiked with some Cognac and Grand Marnier.

We thought we would update the popular Cosmopolitan by substituting Champagne for the usual lemon vodka. We garnished the drinks with skewers of sugar-coated fresh cranberries (thawed frozen ones will work just fine, too).