Black Velvet

A striking Victorian-era cocktail layering rich stout over champagne, creating a drink as dramatic in appearance as it is in history.

The Black Velvet was created on December 15, 1861, the day after Prince Albert — Queen Victoria's husband and Prince Consort — died of typhoid fever at Windsor Castle. The nation entered deep mourning, and at Brooks's Club, the exclusive London gentlemen's establishment founded in 1764 by prominent Whig aristocrats, a bartender decided that even the champagne should be dressed in mourning. He poured dark stout into the champagne, turning the celebratory wine the color of a black armband. The combination turned out to be unexpectedly harmonious: the champagne's acidity and fine carbonation cut through the stout's roasted malt weight, while the stout softened the champagne's sharp effervescence. The result was a drink that was richer than champagne alone and more elegant than stout alone — something the club's members kept ordering long after the mourning period ended. Harry Johnson documented the drink in his 1888 Bartender's Manual under the name Champagne Velvet, specifying Irish porter and champagne in equal parts and noting that it was a rather expensive drink but a good one. In continental Europe it traveled under the name Bismarck, after the German chancellor, appearing in Frank Newman's 1904 Paris-published American Bar and later in Frank Meier's 1936 Artistry of Mixing Drinks, which specified Guinness Stout by name.