French 75 Recipe
A French 75 is the cocktail that turns champagne into a weapon: bright lemon, botanical gin, and a sugared rim of bubbles that goes down far too easily. Build it cold, top it slow, and serve it in a flute or coupe before the fizz falls flat.
Ingredients
- 1.5 ozLondon dry gin
- 0.75 ozfresh lemon juice
- 0.5 ozsimple syrup
- 3 ozbrut champagne or dry sparkling wine, chilled
- 1lemon twist, for garnish
Garnish
- Lemon twist
- Optional sugar rim on the flute
Equipment: Cocktail shaker, jigger, fine-mesh strainer, champagne flute or coupe, channel knife or peeler
Method
- Chill your flute or coupe in the freezer for a few minutes, or fill it with ice water while you work.
- Combine the gin, fresh lemon juice, and simple syrup in a shaker filled two-thirds with ice.
- Shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds until the tin is frosty and the dilution is right.
- Double strain into the chilled flute or coupe, leaving the ice behind.
- Top slowly with chilled brut champagne or dry sparkling wine, pouring down the inside of the glass to keep the bubbles alive.
- Express the lemon twist over the surface, drop it in, and serve immediately.
About the French 75
The French 75 takes its name from the French 75mm field gun used in World War I, a piece of artillery so quick and powerful that bartenders at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris borrowed the name for a drink with a similar kick. The original 1915 build was gin, lemon, sugar, and champagne, and it has stayed close to that formula for more than a century. Cognac versions exist and are worth trying, but gin remains the standard.
To nail it, keep everything cold and respect the ratio: roughly two parts sparkling wine to one part gin-and-lemon base. Shake the gin, lemon, and syrup hard so the drink arrives properly diluted, then strain into a chilled flute or coupe and top gently. Use a brut or extra brut sparkling wine rather than something sweet, and squeeze the lemon fresh; bottled juice flattens the whole drink. Drink it soon after building, while the bubbles are still lively.
- Chill the glass and the sparkling wine; warm champagne foams up and kills the carbonation.
- Skip sweet prosecco or moscato and use brut champagne, cremant, or a dry cava for balance.
- Swap the gin for cognac for the older French 75 style, or use a barrel-aged gin for a rounder drink.
- Shake only the gin, lemon, and syrup; never shake the sparkling wine.
