Buck’s Fizz
A Buck’s Fizz is two parts champagne to one of orange juice: 50ml cold, freshly squeezed orange juice in a chilled flute, topped slowly with 100ml brut champagne, with no garnish. At two to one it is drier than a Mimosa and tastes first of the wine, and that drier ratio is what most British recipes mean by the name. It takes its name from Buck’s Club in London, where the barman Malachi “Pat” McGarry is said to have first served it in 1921. Some older recipes add grenadine, and the club’s own version is said to have held extra ingredients that only its bartenders knew. The International Bartenders Association treats Buck’s Fizz as another name for its Mimosa, at equal parts orange juice and prosecco. Ours keeps the British two to one. A flute holds about 1.2 UK units.
Glassware: Champagne Flute
Garnish: None
Ingredients
100ml
Brut, and cold. At 100ml it is two-thirds of the drink and the main thing you taste, so it matters more than in a Mimosa. A dry crémant or cava does the same job for less; a sweet sparkling wine makes the drink cloying.
50ml
Squeezed the same day, strained of pulp and chilled. At 50ml it colours and sweetens the wine without taking over. Carton juice tastes flat against champagne.
Instructions
Squeeze the orange juice the same day and chill it.
Pour 50ml of orange juice into a chilled flute.
Top slowly with 100ml of cold champagne, in stages as the foam allows.
Serve straight away, without a garnish.
Our version
The IBA lists Buck’s Fizz as another name for its Mimosa: 75ml orange juice and 75ml prosecco. Ours keeps the two to one ratio traditionally associated with Buck’s Club, 100ml champagne to 50ml orange juice.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Pour the juice first, then the champagne in two or three stages as the foam allows. Champagne poured onto juice foams hard; poured slowly down the side of a tilted flute, it settles and keeps its bubbles. Chill everything: the juice, the bottle and the flutes. Nothing in the glass is shaken or iced, so whatever temperature they start at is the temperature you drink. At two to one the wine is most of what you taste. It need not be expensive, but it should be a brut you would drink on its own.
Behind the Buck’s Fizz
Flavour Profile
Buck’s Club, 1921
Buck’s Club in Mayfair gives the drink its name, and the usual account says the club’s barman, Malachi “Pat” McGarry, first served it in 1921. The traditional proportion is two parts champagne to one of orange juice, which makes it a wine drink with orange in it rather than juice with wine in it.
The same barman, spelled MacGarry, appears in both of the 1922 books that first print the Sidecar, credited with bringing that drink to London.
Buck’s Fizz or Mimosa
The Mimosa is the same pairing at equal parts, and the IBA lists Buck’s Fizz as another name for it. In British use the names tend to mark the ratio: the Mimosa softer and juicier, the Buck’s Fizz drier and more plainly a wine drink.
Buck’s Fizz and Mimosa side by side
Buck’s Fizz (ours)
- Wine
- 100ml champagne
- Orange juice
- 50ml
- Ratio
- Two to one
- UK units
- 1.2
Mimosa (ours, and the IBA’s)
- Wine
- 75ml prosecco
- Orange juice
- 75ml
- Ratio
- Equal parts
- UK units
- 0.8
| Drink | Wine | Orange juice | Ratio | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buck’s Fizz (ours) | 100ml champagne | 50ml | Two to one | 1.2 |
| Mimosa (ours, and the IBA’s) | 75ml prosecco | 75ml | Equal parts | 0.8 |
The Secret Ingredient
The club’s version is said to have held more than two ingredients, known only to the bartenders. Some older recipes add a few drops of grenadine, which may be a trace of it. Nobody outside the club has confirmed it either way.
A few drops of grenadine are a harmless flourish. The drink does not need them.
Choosing the Wine
At two to one there is little juice to hide behind, so the wine shows. Brut champagne is the classic choice. A dry crémant or cava makes much the same drink for less, and prosecco makes a softer, fruitier one.
Avoid anything labelled demi-sec or doux. With orange juice on top of the wine’s own sugar, it tastes like squash.
Pouring for a Table
Make it glass by glass. Line up chilled flutes, pour the juice into each, then top with champagne in stages as the foam settles. A 750ml bottle at 100ml a glass fills seven flutes, with a little left over.
How Strong It Is
With 100ml of champagne at 12% ABV, a Buck’s Fizz holds about 1.2 UK units, less than a 125ml glass of the same wine. At a morning occasion, refills are easy to lose count of.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a Buck’s Fizz and a Mimosa?
How much champagne to orange juice in a Buck’s Fizz?
How strong is a Buck’s Fizz?
Why is it called a Buck’s Fizz?
Was there a secret ingredient in the original?
Can I use prosecco instead of champagne?
Can I make Buck’s Fizz in a jug?
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Mimosa
A Mimosa is 75ml of fresh orange juice poured into a cold flute, then 75ml of cold prosecco added slowly and stirred once. About 0.8 UK units. Those are the IBA’s measures, and the IBA lists an orange twist as an optional garnish. It is usually credited to the Ritz in Paris in about 1925 and named after the yellow flower of the mimosa tree. The IBA also lists it under the name Buck’s Fizz. British bars usually keep that name for a stronger mix, twice as much champagne as juice, the version Buck’s Club in London is said to have served from 1921. Half the glass is juice, so squeeze it the same day. Carton juice makes a dull Mimosa.
Champagne Cocktail
A Champagne Cocktail is a sugar cube soaked with two dashes of Angostura and dropped into a chilled flute, then 10ml of cognac and 90ml of cold champagne poured slowly down the side, with a lemon twist expressed over the top. It is never stirred. About 1.5 UK units. Jerry Thomas printed it in 1862 without the brandy: sugar, bitters and champagne. Later recipes added cognac, and the IBA now lists 10ml, with a few optional drops of Grand Marnier. With the cognac in, it matches the first printed definition of a cocktail, from a Hudson, New York, newspaper in 1806: spirits, sugar, water and bitters, with the wine doing the work of the water. The cube is the reason to make it. It sits at the bottom of the flute, dissolving slowly and sending up a thin line of bubbles, so the first sips are dry and the last are sweeter and more spiced.
Bellini
A Bellini is 100ml prosecco over 50ml white peach purée: the purée goes into a chilled flute, the cold prosecco is poured over in stages and folded in, and it is served straight away. About 1.1 UK units. It sits on the IBA’s Contemporary Classics list at these measures. Giuseppe Cipriani, the founder of Harry’s Bar in Venice, created it at some point between 1934 and 1948. He named it after the fifteenth-century Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini; the usual story is that its colour reminded him of the painter’s work. White peaches decide it. They are paler, more floral and usually milder than yellow ones, and they give the soft blush; yellow fruit makes a sharper drink of the wrong colour.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 9 October 2026