Kir Royale

The Kir Royale isn’t your typical cocktail.

With firm roots in France, it’s a cocktail that’s as easy to craft as it is elegant to serve. This is a drink that makes a statement thanks to it’s two main ingredients – bubbly Champagne and sweet Créme de Cassis.

The magic (And who doesn’t like magic?) happens when Champagne and Crème combine in a glass.

The Kir Royale is a popular pre-dinner apértif in France where both Champagne and Crème de Cassis are readily available. The classy cocktail achieved global fame over the years and now appears on cocktail bar menus around the world.

Served in a flute, the sparkling red-colored drink is swanky enough to serve at a wedding. However, the Kir Royale’s recipe is so simple that it’s tempting to craft a couple at home and enjoy them with a cheese plate and nibbles.

The Kir Royale’s history is filled with intrigue.

It involves a Catholic priest who saved numerous lives as a resistance fighter during World War Two. While Canon Felix Kir gets credit for both the Kir and Kir Royale cocktails, he wasn’t the first to combine Champagne and Crème de Cassis. But his version is the one that’s withstood the test of time.

Kir (the man) combined Lejay Cassis produced in Dijon and local Burgundian wine to craft his original Kir (the cocktail). However, it wasn’t much of a stretch for the Dijon priest to replace that white wine with Champagne to create the sparkling ‘royal’ version.

The rest, as they say, is history.

If you count the Kir Royale’s ingredients on one hand, you’ll have two fingers left over. These are the sparkling cocktail’s only ingredients:

While you could use any sparkling wine to craft a Kir Royale, Champagne is the sparkler you want to use. Not only is Champagne specific to the Champagne region of France, but it’s also sparkling wine royalty.

Champagne producers must follow strict rules when they produce the bubbly elixir with chardonnay, pinot meunier and pinot noir grapes. Their production process involves two fermentations, one in a tank and one in the bottle, before the Champagne is aged, riddled and disgorged.

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Make no mistake. Champagne is a luxury product. However, savvy shoppers can purchase half-bottles for this recipe which is what we did when we bought a half-bottle of Taittinger. It’s best to look for the AOC label since there are a number of great bubblies from the Champagne region.

Pro Tip
Craft your Kir Royale with a Cremant from Burgundy if you want to drink something even more area specific than just France.

While the French have been producing and drinking Crème de Cassis for centuries, our history with the blackcurrant liqueur dates back a decade.

We started buying the fruity liqueur in Philadelphia after friends gave us a a taste from their precious bottle. Our infatuation manifested and eventually took us to the Cassissium, an immersive Cassis museum in Nuits-Saint-Georges.

More recently, we bought a bottle of Leon Gonay’s Crème de Cassis for this and other recipes. Not only was it produced in Dijon in Burgundy, but the bottle was also available at our local market.

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Crafting a Kir Royale (or two) is as simple as measuring and pouring.

The first step in this recipe is to measure the Crème de Cassis. While no special tools are required, we like to use a Japanese jigger to ensure accurate measurements and clean pours.

Buy a Japanese jigger from Amazon if you need a jigger or want an inexpensive upgrade.

Crafting a Kir Royal is incredibly easy with no shaking or stirring required. However, it might not be the drink for you if you’re not a Crème de Cassis fan

One option is to replace the Crème de Cassis with either Crème de Framboise or Chambord. Another option is to craft one of the following sparkling cocktails:

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Frequently Asked Questions

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