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Key Takeaways
Tom Hanks debuted his two-ingredient cocktail on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The cocktail, made with Diet Coke and champagne, tastes like a super bubbly sparkling cider.
You can tweak the cocktail with bitters or swap in prosecco instead of the champagne.
I loved Tom Hanks nibbling the baby corn in Big and his campfire-roasted crab-eating scene with Wilson the volleyball in Cast Away, but let’s be real: Exactly no one other than Hanks is floating Diet Coke and champagne in the same glass. The “cocktail” that he debuted on air with Stephen Colbert got a noticeable gasp from the audience, along with his own admission: “I may be insane.”
I texted my sister to find out if she had ever heard of this combo. “What is this concoction of everything I love, in one glass?” she replied. I also got a quizzical eyebrow raise from a woman in the grocery store checkout when I told her the sparkling wine was for Diet Cokes, not mimosas. “Just put rum in it,” she said. Still, this so-called “Diet Cokagne” intrigued me. I felt like a 1980s businessman in a movie, doing “Cokagne” on a Friday morning before work!
Read More: The Southern Way To Drink Coca-Cola (It’s So Much Better)
Why Tom Hanks’ Two-Ingredient Cocktail Is Uniquely Delicious
In advance of this going off the rails, cola-based cocktails have been a much-loved thing since way back. Playing off the rum-based Cuba Libre, the Batanga mixes salt, lime, and tequila with Coke or Pepsi. The Basque Country favorite, Kalimotxo (also spelled Calimotxo or Calimocho), blends Rioja with Coke and lemon, and the Cola Black Russian tops coffee liqueur and vodka with—you know it—fizzy Coca-Cola.
But none of these cocktails put two bubbly things in the same glass. I had to try it. I probably should have tried to be fancier, but I just poured a glass, as they did on the show. Then I took the teensiest sip.
Once everything coated my mouth, I could taste it: apple juice? Diet Coke and champagne together taste like a boozy Martinelli’s! I hate that I’m saying this, but this unlikely duo is shockingly refreshing. I now realize I am a double-bubbles person, and though I’m not always a fan of hard ciders with their tannic, acidic finish, I like the crisp, apple-like taste and zippy texture of Hanks’ Diet Cokagne.
Credit: Simply Recipes / Lauren Bair
How To Make Tom Hanks’ Cocktail
The Tom Hanks version goes like this: Fill a highball glass with ice, add Diet Coke until the glass is two-thirds full, and top that off with a generous shot of Veuve Clicquot. Magic.
This drink must be cold. Chill the glass, load up the ice, pull your ingredients straight outta the fridge, and enjoy it immediately on an iceberg in an ice hotel—especially in summer.
The drink is endlessly tweakable. Adding a few drops of Fee Brothers West Indian Orange Bitters made me feel like I was drinking a sophisticated cocktail with a slight citrus edge. If Veuve is too much coin for your purse, prosecco or another dry sparkling wine does just as well. But since the name of the game for this one is balancing sweetness, you gotta stick with Diet Coke or Coke Zero. Cherry Coke and regular Coke make the drink a syrupy dud.
Take my word for it, this cocktail is at once unnerving, festive, and totally dad-core. If Tom Hanks were Gen Z, you know this stuff would be bottled and blowing up your Instagram already with that #CokagneLife.
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