Turning cocktails into bubbly cocktails….

We all know I love a good bubbly drink, from bubbly water to bubbly cocktails and everything in between.

Because of that I am often turning traditional cocktails into bubbly cocktails that I love. We teamed up with Team Cocktail to learn how to make bubbly cocktails from traditional cocktail recipes.

Team Cocktail

Team Cocktail’s whole mission is to bring people together by creating awesome products that help them have fun, relax and enjoy life as we do, one cocktail at a time.  

Our mission here are at the Bubbly Side of Life is to celebrate every moment so when I met the founder of Team Cocktail we knew we had to combine forces and create some bubbly cocktail fun!  

Team Cocktail came to be on a cruise ship with 28 friends and a lot of liquid enjoyment.  They started out much like the Bubbly Side team….just some friends, traveling about, enjoying local drinks. 

And because every fun group needs a name, Team Cocktail came to be while sailing away from a fun day in Barbados.  What started out as a group of friends wanting to travel together in fun, high quality shirts to commemorate an occasion has turned into a lifestyle company that attracts people from all over because who wouldn’t want to be a part of Team Cocktail? 

And you can have the best of both worlds….be a part of Bubbly Side of Life AND Team Cocktail!  And we’re going to kick this fun off with a Virtual Happy Hour. More on that later! You will definitely want to stay tuned to both of our Instagram accounts: @bubblysideoflife and @teamcocktail for details on these happy hours.  

How to Make Bubbly Cocktails – Our Favorites

I may love bubbly but I enjoy a good cocktail too. So when I can combine some of my favorite traditional cocktails with a bit of bubbly you know I will be the happiest person in the world.

Tips for Turning Traditional Cocktails Bubbly

  1. Choose a dry bubbly that doesn’t have an overpowering flavor. The goal is to add bubbly, not drastically change the flavor of the original recipe. Avoiding overly fruity or flavored bubblies when you make bubbly cocktails will help give you the perfect bubby cocktail.
  2. When choosing a cocktail to turn bubbly choose one that already has a strong flavor bases to prevent it from being over powered by the added bubbly. Food and Wine suggests choosing thicker cocktails because the added liquid will loosen it all up. They also suggest making them slightly more bitter than normal so that the flavors remained balanced when added the bubbly.
  3. Always “top” a cocktail with bubbly. Adding the bubbly last helps preserve the bubbles and allows you to simply add enough bubbly to fill the glass you are using verses adding too much at the beginning and not having the room to add the proper ratios for the base cocktail.

Some Traditional Cocktails with a Bubbly Twist

The Bubbly Mojito

We started with a very classic summer cocktail – the Mojito!! Minty and refreshing their are plenty of twists to this recipe but ours of course is to make a bubbly cocktail.

To really get a great mojito you need a cocktail shaker and a muddler. You can check out our favorites here. Two glasses you can fit together and something to crush the leaves will work but you have to be careful to strain out any ingredients. Check out the video below to create a DIY cocktail shaker using a mason jar and a couple of lids.

Start by muddling the mint leaves, lime juice, and simple syrup together. You can always substitute honey for simple syrup and a bit of depth to the flavor as well. The honey substitute gives it an even more summery taste if you ask me.

Now add in the rum and bitters. Generally sticking with a white rum keeps this drink refreshing and balanced. The bitters also help prevent it from being too sweet especially with the added sparkling wine to make the bubbly cocktail.

Add some ice. Some people like to add a lot of ice to help get the drink cold without watering it down. Others don’t mind a little less. It’s up to you. I didn’t like it watered down so I added a lot of ice and gave it a few good shakes.

Strain into a cocktail glass of your choice, these look beautiful in a coupe!

Top with bubbly and enjoy! These mojitos are the absolutely perfect summer drink because they are already refreshing. Add a bit of bubbly and you don’t get much more perfect for a summer afternoon.

The Zesty Moscow Mule

No fancy equipment needed here. Just grab a glass and a measuring cup! However, mules are traditionally made in copper cups or mugs and you can spot our favorites here. Plus check out these amazing copper coupes! The best of both worlds!

Moscow Mules are super easy drink for any mixologist to start with. Simple ingredients and basic mixing make this an easy and fast bubbly cocktail to make.

Simply grab a glass and pour the appropriate ratio of ingredients in. Give it a little stir.

Then of course … top with bubbly!! A little extra lime and mint garnish give this drink that extra bit of freshness for a perfectly bubbly summer drink.

New Bubbly Cocktails

After giving some traditional cocktail recipes a bubbly twist we will make a fun new bubbly cocktails that you will definitely want to try.

We are busting out that cocktail shaker again and muddling some raspberries, lemonade and simple syrup together.

Add raspberry vodka and give it a good strong shake.

Strain it into a glass and top sparkling water. Then it’s time to bubbly-ize it and top it off with some rosé sparkling.

Rose-berry Spritz

Join us for Happy Hour

What is it about a happy hour that people love?  Maybe the better question is what don’t people love?

Everyone loves a good happy hour, right?  It’s actually my favorite time of day…especially when on vacation.  I am always looking for the best bar with the best happy hour.  

Happy Hour

How Happy Hour Came To Be

Happy Hour was created by the Navy sailors in 1914 to help alleviate some of the boredom while out at sea, so it’s only fitting that we host a happy hour to alleviate some of the boredom while sheltered-in-place. 

While the term “happy hour” may have originated with Navy sailors’ happy hours didn’t involve liquor. Happy hours as we know them, with cocktails, emerged during Prohibition in the 1920s.  It was the “rebels” during Prohibition who would gather together at either Speakeasies or a friend’s house for drinks before going out for the evening. “Happy Hours” then transformed into a time to drink cheap drinks before the evenings festivities.

In the spirit of the fun and enjoyment those sailors looked forward to and the cocktails of the Prohibition, the Bubbly Side of Life and Team Cocktail will be hosting their first …

Virtual Happy Hour!

If you haven’t attended a virtual happy hour yet, definitely pencil this one in your calendar.  Joining a virtual happy hour can lift your spirits more than you even realize, especially as we’re all social distancing and self-isolating. While we can’t promise it will be as much fun as if we were all out at a bar or on a trip, we can guarantee there will be some good laughs, great stories, and, of course, giveaways!  

Join us Thursday 4/16/20 @ 5pm CDT over on the @bubblysideoflife IG page.

To get into the happy hour spirit at home, we are going to create some happy hour staples together.  And then to make it even happier, add bubbly. If you don’t have all the ingredients on hand you can definitely make some substitutions and still come out with a wonderful tasting drink.

And if you don’t like bubbly or don’t want to open a bottle just to top off your cocktail, you’re in luck because these are quite tasty even without the bubbly. (We’ve done the hard work and made sure of that for you!) But why on earth would you want to leave out the bubbly?

Be sure to register your email over in our IG stories so you can be entered to win a prize!!

So grab your ingredients, download the recipes your Team Cocktail or Bubbly gear and let’s mix up some drinks together!  

Shopping List for Happy Hour

  • Mint Leaves
  • Limes
  • Ginger Beer
  • Rum
  • Angostura Bitters
  • Raspberry Vodka
  • Vodka
  • Frozen Raspberries
  • Lemonade
  • Simple Syrup
  • Bottle of Bubbly

Grab your downloadable recipes HERE! Join the mailing list to not only get access to these recipes but all our printable resources at the Bubbly Side of Life

By the way, if you’re looking for bar supplies including glassware, ice buckets, bubbly stoppers, party supplies….anything and everything for creating awesome bubbly cocktails at home, check out our Amazon Storefront.