Beyond Bellini

North Shore mixologists are experimenting in bold ways with sparkling wine. While timeless classics like the Kir Royale and the Bellini bring a festive air to any occasion, more complex concoctions involving a host of liquors, from bourbon to brandy, are showing up on sophisticated drink lists.

At Opus in Salem, the cocktail list always includes bubbly options, says general manager Danny Giddings. “Putting prosecco in anything is a good idea,” Giddings says. “Sparkling cocktails are fun.” Summer has a few more offerings, but even in winter they have a selection, he adds.

Beverage manager Ramona Shah, who worked previously at some of the Boston area’s top cocktail haunts, coordinates closely with her team to put exciting and sometimes challenging drinks on the menu. The staff employs a vast array of house-made syrups and house-infused liquors—everything from pumpkin syrup to cinnamon-infused whiskey to pork belly rye.

Shah says the eclectic menu at Opus opens a world of cocktail possibilities, and she has been gratified that customers are trying the experimental drinks that make bartending fun. “Having new guests come in and helping them find something they weren’t even aware of is what makes it all worth-while,” says Shah, whose resume includes stints at Saloon in Davis Square and Stoddard’s Food & Ale in Boston.

That can include guiding them away from some of the well-known artificially flavored liquors, Giddings says. The bar’s apple vodka, created in-house using fruit from Brooksby Farm in Peabody, is a perfect example of an artisanal substitute for a certain garishly colored apple libation that rarely sees the light of day at Opus.

That Brooksby Farm apple vodka was also the inspiration for one of the bubbly cocktails on the restaurant’s current drink menu, which changes seasonally. Shah says she wanted to make something sparkling that was a little richer for the cold weather, and she came up with the Red Wedding—named for a particularly gory episode of the TV series Game of Thrones. It draws its depth from the apple vodka, mixed with St. George Raspberry Liqueur and Licor 43, a Spanish concoction with 43 different ingredients. Shah says the St. George is very potent and the Licor 43 ties it all together with spice and vanilla notes, strengthening the backbone of the drink.