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Curtain Call
Rum, lemon, bitter liqueur and basil combine brilliantly with sparkling wine adding biscuity complexity, crispness and enlivening effervescence
Caspian Berggren
7th June at 17:24
Accidentally used gin but it still worked fantastically. Love the hint of gin and the tart feeling on your tongue without it being sour.
20th January 2025 at 05:13
This is our favourite Champagne cocktail...come party time, we make lots of these, Sidecar Royales and Old Cubans. But we hadn't noticed the brining bizzo (not specified in the recipe...not sure why not). But my oh my, a rinse of salty, full-flavoured Kalamata brine sends this into seventh heaven. What a blast!
22nd November 2024 at 14:25
Amazing champagne cocktail. I think, the key is to get the hint of basil right, not too much. I used cava Freixenet Gordon Negro, and it worked well (you can get it in small 20 cl bottles). And no olive brine - since it is not mentioned in the specs - and is amazing without (no comparison).
17th September 2024 at 19:38
Second (or third) time making this. The olive brine wash has no purpose unless the olives used have a bold, distinctive (perhaps saline-briny) flavor. First time making this, the basil wasn't apparent, but the second time, a mere shaking in the tin would suffice, unless you like those extra-green flavors of the basil. Damn tasty drink overall and one could get away with reducing (either) the sugar and (or) Campari by a quarter measure.
1st October 2024 at 21:20
hey! so happy that you tried it out 3 times :) you have to brine the shit out of the glass and use black and the saltiest olive brine for it. Try to use a spray to coat the glass. You should smell the olive and have the salty taste on your tongue when you do it right.
whenever you are in berlin give us a message on lobb.berlin and i will make a curtain call for you.
Best
Arash Ghassemi
whenever you are in berlin give us a message on lobb.berlin and i will make a curtain call for you.
Best
Arash Ghassemi
5th January 2024 at 17:39
We had this at New Year and I tasted it before adding the champagne and it was lovely, so I’ve also made this without the champagne as a slightly bitter beautifully pink lemon daiquiri. A winner either way!
2nd May 2025 at 18:16
I agree! Based on your review I tried it before adding bubbly (prosecco in my case) and really liked it. Did add a little extra sugar solution, but that’s just my sweet palate. Lovely with the fizz added too. Will definitely make again.
6th September 2023 at 16:57
In the video Arash, rinses the glass with something but my German is poor so I can't follow. Anyone know? Even without the rinse, this is a great cocktail. I am definitely in the muddling camp on the basil.
29th November 2023 at 10:09
Yes, he rinses the glass with the Brine of the black olive.
6th September 2023 at 18:11
Hi David, I believe it is black olive brine which he rinses the glass with.
1st July 2023 at 11:01
Using Select in place of Campari nicely toned down the bitterness in this wonderfully complex cocktail.
20th January 2023 at 15:26
Delicious with grenadine and sweet rose sparkling wine
1st January 2023 at 01:16
I liked it. My partner thought it too ‘sharp’s (I think she means boozy)
17th December 2022 at 06:22
Honestly, it tastes like soap to me. But…. I do kind of like it
11th September 2022 at 20:48
Subtle with notes of bitter strawberries. So elegant. The basilic is a second accent only but I think it really needs to be muddled to bring out an extra bit of bitterness. A fresher alternative to the Old cuban.
12th September 2022 at 07:36
Thanks, Ignacy. I stipulate to muddle the basil in the method. Comparison to Old Cuban is a great observation and I've added a link to Old Cuban above.
28th January 2022 at 21:06
Made this toninght because of the champagne list published. I can't believe my taste buds how good this tasted. I did cheat using Cava, I don't always want to use champagne (my special drink) and it was just fabulous
31st October 2021 at 13:54
Great cocktail. Next time I will skip muddling, a good shake should be enough to extract the taste without additional bitter notes.
28th October 2020 at 18:08
What an unexpectedly great cocktail! Complex yet easy to make with everyday ingredients. Something to cheer me up in these awful days of incipient second lockdown.
19th September 2020 at 01:30
Dang. That is one really good cocktail. A little lime with the lemon works well, as does Bruto Americano from St. George distillers in Alameda California, my go-to red Italian bitter liqueur.