The Black Velvet Cocktail

This delightful mix of Guinness and Champagne is perfect for St. Pat’s

Sometimes a cocktail’s name really captures it.

The Black Velvet is soft, smooth, and well . . . velvety. Guinness adds dark richness to the sparkle of champagne. 

So forget the green beer. This St Patrick’s Day, make it brew and bubbles.

Recipe: The Black Velvet Cocktail

The classic version of this drink calls for equal measures of champagne and Guinness stout. But you can alter that ratio if you wish (see Notes).

You can serve this cocktail in a Collins (tall) glass, as many drinkers do. We prefer a champagne flute. A beer tankard or pilsner glass would work too.

This recipe takes about 5 minutes to make, and serves one.

Ingredients

• chilled Guinness stout (may substitute another brand of stout)
• chilled brut champagne (or other dry sparkling wine)

Procedure

1. Pour Guinness into a champagne flute or Collins glass until the glass is about half full. Then add enough champagne to fill the glass.
2. Stir gently with a long-handled spoon or swizzle stick to combine. Serve and enjoy.

Notes

• We like to use a 1:1 ratio of Guinness to champagne, but some people think that’s too much stout. If you’re one of them, try a ratio of 1:2, 1:3, or even 1:4.
• You can substitute another stout for Guinness, but why would you want to? Guinness is good stuff. Plus, on St. Patrick’s Day, drinking anything other than Guinness is probably illegal.
• We don’t recommend using expensive champagne in this drink. You can, of course, and it would be wonderful. But Guinness will overpower the delicate flavor notes of fine champagne, so you’d be wasting your money. We generally use an inexpensive sparkling wine, like a cava from Spain, when we make this drink.
• Some versions of this cocktail use sparkling cider instead of champagne. We haven’t tried that, but it sounds interesting.
• This drink is a bit like a Half and Half (that popular mix of Guinness and ale or lager). But in the Black Velvet, of course, champagne replaces the ale.
• So how did the Black Velvet originate? Legend says the drink was invented to commemorate Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, on his death in 1861. (The color of the drink was supposed to mimic the black armbands typically worn by mourners.) It may have originated at Brooks’s, a fashionable gentleman’s club in London.
   

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all our peeps

Prince Albert in a Can

“So that story about the origins of the Black Velvet,” said Mrs Kitchen Riffs. “Is it true?”

“No one is really sure,” I said. “Cocktail history can be a bit murky.”

“Not surprising,” said Mrs K R. “Since those who record it have had a few.”

“After a couple cans of Guinness, I feel like a prince among men,” I said.

“The gentlemen at Brooks’s may have been royally flushed,” said Mrs K R.

“And we know what imbibing can do to memories,” I said.

“In theory, of course,” said Mrs K R. “Not firsthand.”

That’s our story, and we’re sticking to it.

You may also enjoy reading about:

Blackthorn Cocktail
Sazerac Cocktail
Vieux Carré Cocktail
Irish Coffee
Hearn's Cocktail
Brainstorm Cocktail
Old-Fashioned Cocktail
Cocktail Basics
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