Classic cocktail · Guided recipe
Champagne Pick-Me-Up
Start makingCognac, orange juice and a little grenadine on their own would be a soft, fruity brandy drink. Sixty milliliters of champagne over the top dries it out and gives it lift. Pick-me-up meant a morning drink, and this one still behaves like one.
In the glassCognac · Orange juice · Grenadine · Champagne
See exact amounts
What goes in
Ingredients
Set up before you pour
Use a large wine glass.
The generous bowl gives a spritz enough space for ice, fruit and sparkling mixer without crowding.
- Standard size
- 400 ml13½ oz
- Ice & serve
- Fill it with fresh ice cubes.
- If you don’t own one
- Use a stemless wine glass or roomy tumbler.
- jigger or measuring spoon
- Cognac30 ml
- Champagne60 ml
- Orange juice15 ml
- Grenadine8 ml
From bottle to glass
Method
- 01
Ice the glass Fill the glass with ice
- 02
Measure and pour Pour 30 ml cognac
Cognac
- 03
Measure and pour Add 15 ml orange juice
Orange juice
- 04
Measure and pour Add 8 ml grenadine
Grenadine
- 05
Top gently Top with 60 ml champagne
Champagne
- 06
Finish the drink Finish it — add an orange slice
Know your drink
About the Champagne Pick-Me-Up
What pick-me-up meant
Pick-me-up was a category before it was a recipe. Bars kept a handful of them for customers who had been out the night before, and the Corpse Reviver family belongs to the same tradition of drinks sold as repairs. Interwar books print several champagne pick-me-ups and rarely agree on the details: some use gin, some add bitters, some skip the grenadine altogether.
Common questions
Champagne Pick-Me-Up FAQ
Everything into the glass at once, or champagne last?
Cognac, juice and grenadine first, over ice, stirred just enough to bring the color together. Champagne last, poured slowly down the side. Add it early and half the gas is gone before the glass reaches the table, leaving you with warm brandy and orange.
Is it any use on a rough morning?
Not medically, no. What the old bar term meant was a restorative served before noon, and the honest description of the effect is cold, sweet and alcoholic arriving at a moment when all three feel welcome. Drink a glass of water alongside it and eat something.
VS or VSOP under the champagne?
VS does the job and VSOP shows up in the finish, where a little age gives the drink something to hold onto once the bubbles have gone. Any decent grape brandy stands in: brandy de Jerez pushes it toward dessert, Armagnac is rougher and more interesting. Bottom-shelf bottles get exposed in the first sip.
Mine foamed over the rim. What happened?
Pulp. Juice squeezed straight from an orange carries enough solid matter to give the gas something to cling to, and it climbs. Strain the juice through a tea strainer, chill the glass and the wine properly, and pour the champagne against the ice rather than into the middle.
What ingredients are in a Champagne Pick-Me-Up?
A classic Champagne Pick-Me-Up calls for 30 ml (1 oz) Cognac, 15 ml (0.5 oz) Orange juice, 8 ml (0.25 oz) Grenadine, 60 ml (2 oz) Champagne. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.
How strong is a Champagne Pick-Me-Up?
A standard Champagne Pick-Me-Up is roughly 17% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it about as strong as a glass of wine.
Is a Champagne Pick-Me-Up shaken or stirred?
A Champagne Pick-Me-Up is built directly in the glass over ice — no shaker required. Add the ingredients in order and give it a brief, gentle stir.
Sharpen the technique
Skills used in this recipe
How to stir a cocktail for a silky finish
Control chilling and dilution without adding the bubbles and texture of a shake.
Read the guide
Cocktail ice: cubes, crushed ice and dilution
Understand why ice is an ingredient—and choose the right shape for every drink.
Read the guideWhere to go next
If you like the Champagne Pick-Me-Up, try these.
Champagne Cocktail
A sugar cube soaked in bitters under a glass of champagne, with a cognac lift — the oldest of the bubbly classics. Pure occasion.
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Chicago
Cognac and a splash of orange liqueur, bittered, then filled with champagne and served over ice in a wine glass. Warmer and more assertive than a Champagne Cocktail, and it lasts a good deal longer in the hand.
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Cognac Highball
Two and a half parts soda to one of cognac, over as much ice as the glass will take. Carbonation does something useful to brandy, thinning its syrupy weight and pushing the dried-fruit and vanilla notes forward.
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