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Lychee Empress Sparkler (New Year’s Eve Cocktail)

Can you believe New Year’s Eve is on Thursday?! This year somehow managed to fly by while also moving at a snail’s pace. I guess it checks out that time makes literally zero sense during a global pandemic. While I don’t have the highest of hopes for the first half of 2021, I’m pretty excited for the rest of the year! Hopefully we’ll be able to return to some semblance of normalcy. I mean at this point I’d be thrilled to just set foot into a grocery store. But I digress. Even though New Year’s Eve will look a little (or a lot) different this year, it deserves a festive drink. And after over a month of feasting and binging baked goods, this refreshing Lychee Empress Sparkler is it.

If you’re not familiar, Empress is a brand of gin. It’s filled with fragrant botanicals, and is a bit lighter than most other gins I’ve had. Oh, and it’s absolutely stunning. The gin starts out a vibrant royal blue and transforms into a beautiful purple with the addition of citrus or tonic. For this cocktail, I paired it with lychee juice, champagne (or tonic if you don’t have any), and lime juice. The lychee juice has a sweet fruity and floral flavor that works perfectly with the Empress’ botanical bouquet. Then the limes add a bit of acidity and zest. While you can use either champagne or tonic here, I find that champagne gives this cocktail a slightly more interesting and complex flavor. That said, I’ve tried it both ways and you really can’t go wrong.

*Full disclosure: This is not a sponsored post, but I have worked with Empress before. I genuinely love their gin, though. The color is absolutely magical, and it tastes wonderful.

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Lychee Empress Sparkler

Course Drinks
Keyword champagne, empress, gin, lime, lychee
Servings 1 drink

Ingredients

  • 3 oz Empress gin (about 2 shots)
  • 4.5 oz Chilled lychee juice (about 3 shots)
  • 1/2 Lime
  • 2 oz Champagne, sparkling wine, or tonic (or to taste!)

Instructions

  • Combine gin and lychee juice in your glass of choice (a coupe works great here). Squeeze in the juice of half a lime, and then top it off with champagne, sparkling wine, or tonic! I put 2 oz here, but you can really use as much or as little as you'd like.

And that’s it! A simple, but delightfully tasty cocktail. Of course, you can make this with any old gin in a pinch. I’d definitely recommend giving Empress a shot though, as it’ll give you that gorgeous color and its botanical infusions pair so nicely with the lychee juice!

If you do end up giving this a shot, let me know in the comments or on Instagram! I always love hearing from you and seeing your pictures.

Hope you have a safe and happy new year!

5 thoughts on “Lychee Empress Sparkler (New Year’s Eve Cocktail)”

  1. 5 stars
    This is such a pretty drink! I am trying to find Lychee juice so I can make it tomorrow night! But I’m having trouble finding it. Where do you buy it?

  2. Pingback: Refreshing Floral Lychee Rose Lemonade - Leisure Fan Club

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