We did brunch with the family today and since I’m always running my mouth about cocktails, I was put in charge of the bar program. It is a great honor, they said, to be able to provide the drinks. So, I grabbed a couple of bottles of Prosecco and cleared my station to make all the bubbly things. I hope you’ll join me now as we stand and make the classic Mimosa. 

First off this is barely a cocktail, just two ingredients, unless you get fancy and add some bitters, which I did, naturally. I have often derided this drink as a waste of good champagne and a waste of orange juice. I love them separately and have never found that combining them makes either better. To be fair, it is a classic and a brunch staple, so I dutifully started slinging them. For those of you playing the home game, you don’t even get to use your tins today, just have your faithful manservant, a Liam works great for this if you have one, grab a champagne flute out of cabinet and fill it approximately halfway with fresh squeezed orange juice, add two stabs of El Guapo Cucumber Lavender Bitters, just to give it a little depth and interest. Give that a stir with a barspoon and top with sparkling wine, I went with some fine Belleti Prosecco from Aldi. Garnish with a frond and some flowers from a Mimosa tree and serve. 

It tastes like orange juice and Prosecco, imagine that. It is light and refreshing and good enough if you go in for that sort of thing. I had fun with the garnish since it involved driving the truck out in the field and having Liam harvest a branch from the bed like some sort of epicurean safari and it is pretty. Of course, you have to remove it to enjoy the drink, but that is a small price to pay and I think a Mimosa is better for looking at than drinking anyway. The bitters help, but for my tastes, I’d still keep my OJ and my sparkling wines separate, but I hope it works for you. If nothing else it is easy and there is something to be said for that when the humidity and temperature are working overtime and all those brunchie carbs have you looking for a place to curl up for a little postprandial snooze. I think I’ll go have that nap now, you stay safe, stay hydrated and stay sane, my friends.