Toward the end of the sparkling wine, my boyfriend issued a challenge: he wanted a drink with Campari and champagne. The other ingredients and the manner of its creation were up to me. Thus, the Murder By Death was born. (And, by being the one responsible for the concoction’s creation, he was also the one who named it.)

I dug through my liquor cabinet and refrigerator in search of the perfect ingredients. I pulled out things that looked promising: cherries, simple syrup, sake, vodka, lime cordial. Not everything was going to make the cut, but I had a nice stable of ingredients to choose from.

3/4 oz Campari
3/4 oz cold sake
1/2 oz Rose’s Lime Juice
1/4 oz simple syrup
dash maraschino juice
sparkling wine
maraschino cherry for garnish

Mix all ingredients but champagne and garnish in mixing glass. Pour into champagne flute and top with champagne to fill glass. Drop in cherry and serve.

I decided on the sake both because of its dryness and its lightness—with the syrupy Campari and juices, lightness would be important—and because it has a very mild flavor. The drink wowed its intended audience (who was biased to begin with), but overall I thought it had a nice flavor. Sweet, but with a nice bite and a little kick from the sake. And the cherry at the bottom is a great treat at the end!