The little story of a great recipe: Black Velvet
A refreshing, original cocktail enjoyed throughout the world, the famous Black Velvet was invented in 1861 at London’s Brook’s Club the day after the death of Prince Albert. As the story would have it, one of the waiters, overcome with grief, decided to create a special cocktail named Black Velvet to mark the period of mourning. At first, patrons were shocked by the waiter’s audacity (mixing champagne or cider with dark beer, what a notion!), but soon all were seduced by the refreshingly smooth concoction, which rapidly caught on and became a classic drink.
In a ‘pint’ glass, fill with cider until half of the glass, then trickle the dark beer on the back of a spoon to make it ‘float’ on the cider.