Kir Royale Cocktail

The Kir royale is a classic french special occasion party cocktail. The purple shades and fruity berry taste make this sparkling wine apéritif a hit every time!

Jump to:

• 📕 What is a Kir Royale?
• 🍾 Ingredients
• 🥂 How to make it?
• 📖 Recipe
• 🍴 Serving Instructions
• 💡 Variations
• 💭 FAQs
• 💬 Comments

📕 What is a Kir Royale?

A Kir royal is a French apéritif cocktail made with crème de cassis liqueur and a French sparkling wine. This elegant cocktail is also known as Kir pétillant in French.

The Kir royal is an advanced and contemporary variation of the classic Kir, which consists of Crème de cassis and Bourgogne Aligoté white wine.

In French tend to only know Kir prepared with white wine. It's a popular party apéritif, that means it's served with amuse bouche party bites or before a special occasion meal.

I saw the Kir royale for the first time in the Netflix show, Emily in Paris and just like many others in this world, I got inspired!

🍾 Ingredients

You will need just two ingredients to make a Kir royal at home.

To see the Video, including US and metric measurements with conversions, please refer to the recipe card below.

Crème de cassis	A sweet, intense purple liqueur made of black currants. It's traditionally made in Dijon, the capital of the Burgundy region in France.
French Sparkling Wine	You can use either a classic Champagne from the Champagne region or a crémant from any of the other regions. A crémant is basically the same thing as a champagne, but only french sparkling wine from the Champagne regions gets the Champagne title.

You are free to experiment to create new Kir versions. I have listed various Kir drinks further below.

🥂 How to make it?

We love preparing this drink because it comes together easily, and it tastes great as well.

Here is an overview of how it's done.

Step 1

Measure the crème de cassis.

Step 2

Pour de crème de cassis in a glass.

Top it up with the French sparkling wine.

📖 Recipe

🍴 Serving Instructions

Your Kir Royal will look grand and special in a champagne flute. You can also use a coupe glass instead.

I think the drink looks great as it is without garnish, but you can add a lemon twist to each kir royale glass for a yellow purple contrast.

Serving fresh berries in a small bowl can give the aesthetics a nice touch.

I also recommend getting pink french biscuits, which are known as Biscuit rose de Reims. These look fantastic, and they are normally served with champagne in France. Guests can dip the biscuits into their kir royale.

💡 Variations

Ultimately, this drink can be adjusted and turned into a whole new cocktail. Substitute any of the following main ingredients.

Substitute the crème de cassis with:

• Chambord — a raspberry and blackberry liqueur similar in consistency to crème de cassis from the Loire Valley in France.
• Black Currant or Raspberry Syrup — To make an alcohol-free mocktail aka virgin version of this drink

Substitute de Champagne with:

• Crémant — Champagne is a French sparkling wine from the Champagne region. Every other sparkling wine in France is called a Crémant. It's equal quality to champagne but much cheaper.
• White Wine — Crème de cassis with white wine is called a Kir or a Kir vin blanc or Kir Cassis or even a blanc cassis. This is the traditional kir, a classic French cocktail, and the more popular version in France, which is also referred to as kir cocktail in bar menus. A proper version of this calls for Bourgogne Aligoté, which is an aligoté grape wine from the Bourgogne region.
• White Wine from Savoie — The wine from the Savoie department in France is AOC protected and the crème de cassis drink is called a Kir Savoie.
• Prosecco — Italian sparkle can be a substitute if this is what you have in your pantry.
• Sekt — That's the Austrian and German take on sparkling wine, which tends to be much more budget-friendly.
• Apple Cider + Calvados — Calvados mixed with cider and crème de cassis is also called a Kir Normand.
• Apple Cider — A Cider Royale or a Kir Breton with apple cider and crème de cassis. This version is more common in Normandy, northern France.
• Apple Cider + Mead OR Muscadet white wine + Mead — Combine mead, apple cider and crème de cassis, and you have a Kir Celtic. A concoction with sweet muscadet white wine and mead can also be called a Kir celtic.

More variations:

• Mirabelle Plum Liqueur — To make a Kir Lorraine with white wine.
• Peach Liqueur — To make a Kir Imperial with white wine.
• Chestnut Liqueur — To make a Kir Ardèchois with white wine.
• Grapefruit Liqueur + Rosé Wine — the combination is known as a kir Provençal.

💭 FAQs