Black Velvet Beer Cocktail Recipe: How to Make the Cocktail

A black velvet beer cocktail is a mixed drink with equal parts dark beer and Champagne. The smoothness of dark beer and the bubbles of the sparkling wine complement one another. The cocktail, which you can serve in either a beer glass or Champagne flute, is striking because the two liquids separate thanks to their different densities, resulting in a dramatic striped look, with the dark beer floating on top of the lighter-colored wine. To accentuate these layers, bartenders typically pour the beer over the back of a spoon placed upside down over the top of the glass. The floating trick, also used for other layered drinks like black and tan, disrupts the flow of the beer and encourages the layers to remain separate.

Some black velvet beer cocktail drink recipes replace the Champagne with prosecco, cider, or perry (pear cider).

In 1861, a bartender at Brooks’s Club in London created the Champagne cocktail to commemorate and mourn the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband. Mourners wore black armbands throughout the country to indicate their grief over Albert's death. The black stripe of dark beer set against the lightness of the Champagne symbolized those armbands. These days, of course, the black velvet drink isn't associated with mourning and is especially popular at brunch.