Black Velvet

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Cocktail History

The Black Velvet is a classic cocktail that was created by a London bartender in 1861 at the Brooks’s Club in London to mourn the death of Prince Albert. It is traditionally made by mixing stout beer with sparkling wine and citrus.

Cocktail Ingredients

To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following ingredients:

Stout Beer: This is the base spirit. We used Guinness Extra Stout because it’s one of the most popular stouts on the market thanks to its smoothness and bitter yet sweet flavor.

Sparkling Wine: This is one of the base spirits. It’s poured on top at the end to add sparkling wine flavor and effervescence. We went with Villa Bellezza Winery’s Brillante because it was our wedding wine and we love its light and airy taste.

Lemon Twist: This is the garnish. It adds more fresh lemon aroma and flavor.

Tasting Notes

Our Opinion of This Cocktail Recipe: To our surprise, this recipe tasted a lot better than it sounded when we first read the list of ingredients. The combination is curious but pretty delicious, especially if you enjoy a good stout beer. Neither of us are big beer drinkers, so we likely won’t be making this one again, but it’s definitely worth trying at least once.

Recipe

This cocktail recipe was adapted from The Art of Vintage Cocktails by Stephanie Rosenbaum.

Tools & Glassware We Recommend

More Beer Cocktails

If you like this beer-based cocktail recipe, here are a few others we’ve tried that you may enjoy:

• End of the Line: A beer cocktail made with gin, orange curaçao, lemon juice, maraschino liqueur, rosemary, grapefruit, and peppercorn bitters, and an orange slice

• Averna Stout Flip: A stout beer cocktail made with Amaro Averna, egg white, egg yolk, Angostura aromatic bitters, and grated nutmeg

• Stout Sangaree: A Irish stout beer and port wine cocktail made with nutmeg

• Hop Over: An IPA cocktail made with genever, velvet falernum, lemon juice, orange flower water, and a lemon wheel