Spanish Fizz

Spanish Fizz, the easiest cocktail ever.

And, it sounds pretty fancy.

If you put anything into a nice glass and drink it as a celebration it can be fancy, but this one is as simple as they come. Two ingredients, and no prep.

If that’s not a perfect party cocktail I don’t know what is.

The only time I have ever seen or heard of this drink was on the menu of the Toronto spot Bar Raval. I think that they are the first to name it a Spanish Fizz, but that isn’t 100% for sure. When you google Spanish Fizz the only things that come up are the Bar Raval menu and a few random drinks that are definitely not this.

If you are ever in Toronto, Bar Raval should really be on your must-go list. The woodwork alone is worth walking inside, but they also serve all sorts of delicious drinks and small plates. 

How do I make it?

Fill a glass about 3/4 of the way with Cava (Spanish sparkling wine), top it up with any sort of fortified wine, and drink it.

The exact ratio and the finer details of how you serve it are up to you, but it’s nearly impossible to mess this one up.

YOU CAN SERVE IT ANY WAY YOU WANT. At Bar Raval they do it on the rocks and garnish with a really nice olive, but you could also do it in a Collins glass, or a Champagne flute, and garnish it with whatever sounds good to you.

 It is pretty great with a little citrus peel squeezed over the finished drink. 

Grapefruit, orange, lemon or lime would all be a nice way to finish the drink based on your taste and what fortified wine you use. So do a little experimenting.

Choosing the ingredients

You can pretty much use any bottle of sparkling and fortified wine that you have. But since this is such a simple drink with no strong flavors to cover everything up, you are going to really taste the wines you choose.

So choose something nice.

If you aren’t familiar, fortified wine is the overarching term for vermouth, port, sherry, and other wines in those families. No matter what style you choose the drink will be delicious, just a bit different.

To give you a jumping off point if you have no idea what to go for, here are a few of my favorites from the different styles you could go with:

• (Sweet Vermouth) Cocchi Vermouth di Torino: I have talked a lot about this vermouth on the blog, but it’s for good reason. It has awesome dark fruit and deep spice flavors, and I think it’s the closest to competing with the ever popular Carpano Antica, but it costs $10 less.
• (Sweet Vermouth) Carpano Antica: If you feel like shelling out the bucks this is highly regarded as the cream of the crop in the world of sweet vermouth, and yeah, it’s really good.
• (Dry Vermouth) Dolin Dry: Talk about a good bargain… This guy has tons of flavor and is pretty much my go-to for any cocktail that calls for a dry vermouth. I have seen it in many bars too.
• (Blanc Vermouth) Dolin Blanc: Yup, I am recommending two from the same brand, but they are really solid! This is what you should reach for if you want a final cocktail that uses white vermouth but doesn’t have the more complex/herbal characteristics of a dry vermouth.
• (Sherry) Lustau Los Arc Amontillado: Lustau is well known for bottling solid Spanish styles of wines and the Amontillado will give you a nice hazel nut and dried red fruit flavor.
• (Bitter Aperitif) Salers: If you want something more bitter and herbal Salers or any other gentian root liquor will do the trick. Cocchi Americano is another popular option in this category.

Keep in mind that this is BY NO MEANS an all encompassing list. If there is any type of fortified wine that you think would be good with some bubbles, try it out and let me know how it goes!

And then for the sparkling.

Cava is what technically makes this a Spanish Fizz Spanish. Cava is essentially a sparkling wine from Spain that has been made using the traditional method of completing a secondary fermentation of the wine right in the bottle. There are both white and rose variations and you could try both out in a wine cocktail like the Spanish Fizz.

But you could also use any sparkling wine you like.

I guess it won’t exactly be a Spanish Fizz anymore then, but it is really only a fully Spanish Fizz if you are going to make it with fortified wine from pain. So you might as well just make it with whatever you want.

I will say this though…

By no means am I some kind of wine expert, but the quality to price ratio of Spanish wines is really great. As you move into Italy, Germany and France the price tends to creep up, and they aren’t always significantly better wines.

What I am getting at is use whatever sparkling wine you want, but I wouldn’t go by a $50 bottle of Champagne just to put it in a cocktail.

And keep in mind that this is a rough recipe. I would start with ratios somewhere around what I have posted below, but if you want more of one wine or the other just adjust it.

Sometimes easy is what you need, and this is as easy as it gets people.

Cheers!

PRINT RECIPE

Spanish Fizz

A super simple sparkling wine cocktail

Ingredients

• 3 – 4 oz Sparkling Wine - (cava works great)
• 1 1/2 – 2 oz Fortified Wine - (any kind)
• 1 piece Citrus Peel - (optional)

Instructions

• Slowly add the sparkling wine to a glass either with or without ice.
• Add the fortified wine right on type and gently swirl to combine.
• Express the oils of a piece of citrus peel over the finished drink, or garnish with whatever you’d like. (optional)

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Course: Drinks

Servings: 1 cocktail

Tag me at @mydrinkinghobby when you make this!