Curiocity: Mike's Mix — Champagne Lemon Drop

Every Friday, Mike Augustyniak picks up a new cocktail recipe from a local mixologist. Throughout January, he's putting some pep in his morning step with breakfast cocktail recipes from The Freehouse, the brand new brewpub in the North Loop of Minneapolis. This week's selection puts a spin on a sweet favorite.

Ingredients
¼ oz Lemon Juice
1½ oz Vodka
½ oz Simple Syrup
Prosecco top
Garnish w/lemon twist
Sugar rim

Directions
Rim a champagne flute with sugar.
Shake the lemon juice, vodka, and simple syrup over ice.
Strain into the glass and top with Prosecco, enough so that it just meets the sugar.
Add garnish.

Taste Test
It's not complicated -- it's a lemon drop! The marriage of sweetness and citrusy tartness from the lemon juice melds with the crisp, dry Prosecco in a way that helps this drink move from the bar to the breakfast bar. If Prosecco isn't available, bartender Travis says you definitely want to choose a drier champagne or cava in its place. And, if you don't have a drink-rimming station at home, apply the sugar rim by wetting the lip of your glassware with a lime wedge and using a small plate full of table sugar. This drink, by the way, will be featured on the menu until next Friday, Jan. 17, but it can be ordered any time even if it's not on the menu.

About The Freehouse
"There are other brewpubs, taprooms and bars that serve only one brand of beer. But we are not that. We serve our beer side-by-side with that of our competition with the belief that quality and selection of our ingredients and the care and craft of our brewmasters and chefs will shine through in every batch we brew, every pint we pour and every plate we serve," their website promises.

To find more recipes from Mike's Mix, click here.