The Frenchier French 75
- 3 oz. Champagne
Shake first three ingredients over ice. Strain into a flute and top with about 3 oz. of Champagne or sparkling wine.
Though it is very much a gin drink, many modern recipes for the French 75 call for gin or cognac. As best I can tell, cognacs little coup traces back to a 1948 cocktail book called The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks by a rather opinionated tax attorney named David Embury, whod never tended bar professionally a day in his life, but who nonetheless wrote a book about it. Gin is sometimes used in place of cognac in this drink, he writes, but then, of course, it no longer should be called French.
Whether by skill or by luck, his facile observation led to a wonderful variation of the drink . Its got a richness and depth that, even in a flute, shares focus with the bubbles, and coaxes out all the wonderful stone fruit and mineral qualities you maybe didnt even know your Cognac had in it. This is the house version at the aptly named Arnauds French 75 bar in New Orleans, and for good reason: its delicious.
Note here that cognac can have a little sweetness in it so I upped the citrus a touchif you find that a little too lean, feel free to reduce the lemon juice to 0.5 oz.
Every week bartender Jason OBryan mixes his up his favorite drinks for you. Check out his past cocktail recipes.
When To Serve A French 75
The perfect time for a French 75? Whenever youd like one! But for me, I particularly love serving these at brunch
Its a perfect change-up from the traditional mimosa or bellini cocktails when youre brunching. The drink is light and refreshing, very smooth, and packs a punch .
Its also a perfect cocktail recipe to serve for special occasions! Birthday parties, anniversaries, Valentines Day, showers, weddings and more would all be great times to serve a French 75.
It feels special and a little elevated because of the fact that its a champagne cocktail, but its incredibly easy and quick to make. You can serve plenty of them very quickly, which makes it a good idea for parties or large events as well.
Best Champagne Cocktails For Nye
Its time to see in the New Year in style! So, make sure your fridge is stocked with champagne, and keep things interesting with a cocktail or two. Heres our roundup of the best champagne cocktails to sip on in celebration of the festive season. If youre planning a NYE at home, these are sure to elevate your evening.
Berries and champagne is always a good idea.
- 50ml Martin Millers gin
- 15ml Fresh lemon juice
- 2 large or 4 small strawberries
Garnish: Grapefruit twist and flower
Glass: Small goblet
Muddle the strawberries and raspberries in the bottom of a shaker. Add all the other ingredients except the champagne and shake with cubed ice for 4 seconds. Double the strain into the serving glass and top with champagne.
This recipe is from Oskar Kinbergs Cocktail Cookbook
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The Standard French 75
- 3 oz. sparkling wine
Shake first three ingredients over ice. Strain into a tall glass over ice, and top with about 3 oz. of sparkling wine.
While pretty much all modern French 75s come in flutes, both the original Heres How and the Savoy recipes call for the cocktail to be served in a tall glass, on ice, making this a Tom Collins with sparkling wine instead of soda water. In fact, of the 14 examples of the French 75 I could find in cocktail books from 1927 to 1977 and one in 2002, all but three of them call for the cocktail to be served on ice in a tall glass .
Ice adds dilution, keeps it ice cold and reduces effervescence, but what it really does is reduce the focus on the sparkling wine. It levels the playing fieldwhile it is obviously still great with Champagne, its also exceptional with much more affordable Cava or Prosecco.
Choosing The Right Gin
Gin is a classic liquor if there ever was one, dating back hundreds of years this blend has been consumed all over the world. Gin, as we know it today, originated in Holland and later England. Gin is the base for so many cocktails, particularly the martini.
Gin gained popularity in the US about a century ago with the popularization of the martini. Then home brewers began making their own bathtub gin during prohibition. Its clear easy base is ideal for many drinks and just about anyone can find something they like made with gin.
What sets gin apart from vodka and other clear liquors is the addition of botanicals, juniper, during the distillation process. That flavor gives gin its unique taste.
For this cocktail I chose a London dry gin, the easiest to come by at most stores. It has a smooth dry taste and works well is so many drinks. Bombay Sapphire is my favorite, but you can also try Tanqueray. Start with a few small bottles of different varieties and figure out what suits your pallet first.
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Other Easy And Delicious Champagne Cocktails
- Cocktail Shaker. This one is beautiful!
- Jigger. For the most accurate measurements.
- Citrus Press. This is a great tool for adding citrus juices to drinks!
- Strainer. To keep ice and other unwanted ingredients from falling into your glass.
The bubbles make this St. Germain cocktail one of my favorite drinks to serve girlfriends, especially for brunch.
The fact that its so fast to make also makes it one of my go-to choices when Im hosting happy hour or dinner parties.
If youre looking for a brunch cocktail, bridal shower cocktail, summer cocktail, or a fun signature drink to make the classic cocktail at your house, this recipe, with its classy good looks and light, appealing flavor profile, is a superb selection!
What Is A Champagne Floater
Champagne floaters are a type of debris found in champagne. They are small, round, and typically white in color. Champagne floaters are caused by tiny pieces of lees that have not been removed from the champagne during the bottling process.
Lees are the sediment that forms at the bottom of a wine barrel or fermentation container. The lees are made up of dead yeast cells, grape skin fragments, and other particles. During the bottling process, the lees are normally removed from the champagne. However, if the process is not done properly, small pieces of lees can be left in the champagne.
These tiny pieces of lees can rise to the surface of the champagne and form what is known as a floater. Champagne floaters are not harmful, but they can be a nuisance. They can make the champagne taste gritty and can also cause the champagne to fizz more than usual.
If you find a champagne floater in your glass, there is no need to worry. Just discard the floater and enjoy the rest of your champagne.
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Substitutions In This Gin And Prosecco Cocktail
Below Ive shared our exact recipe to create our gin and prosecco cocktail. But I love this drink because you can substitute various parts of it to tweak the recipe to your liking.
While we enjoy the classic gin and prosecco combination, for this one we switched up the prosecco with a sparkling peachy rosé, which added a peachy color to the mix. This substitution added a floral note that was really lovely.
A dry champagne substitution will remove any additional sweetness from the drink. Champagne will also result in a bubble or sparkle thats much finer, while prosecco will give you larger bubbles and probably a more fruity taste.
The History Of Gin And Fizz: How Gin And Champagne Cocktails Came To Be
Gin and Champagne cocktails are the perfect way to make an occasion specialand they have quite the history, too. Read on to learn more about how these two first got together.
Purists may scoff at the idea, but Champagne really is an excellent cocktail ingredient. Exquisite on its own, Champagne also adds balance and elegance to most servesnot to mention a festive dose of fizz.
But while many drinkers might assume Champagne cocktails are a more recent innovation, in fact their history dates back to the very beginnings of modern cocktail culture. Or, as drinks historian David Wondrich puts it, Champagne cocktails are from the Iron Age of American mixologythat final prehistoric period between the invention of the cocktail, whenever that was, and 1862, when the first cocktail book was published.
Some of the earliest written records of cocktails featuring Champagne date to 1855, though they were likely enjoyed even earliercontemporary sippers might be surprised to learn that, in those days, they were frequently served in tumblers over crushed ice. One of the earliest sparkling serves was the creatively named Champagne Cocktail, which was made with a sugar cube soaked with bitters, mixed with Cognac, and finally topped up with Champagne.
Before they came to be served in flutes, Champagne cocktails were served in tumblers, over crushed ice.
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Bridgerton Series On Netflix
If you have no idea what I am talking about, thats fine, you can still enjoy the gin and champagne cocktail at the bottom of this post! But if you do know what I am talking about, welcome to the obsession that is Bridgerton! I think I started reading the series a while back , I think I started the series in 2003, I read the series out of order, but loved it then, never thinking it would be made into a fun and relevant to 2020 series 20 years later.
So when I heard that the series was coming out, I was all about it! Which made me think about my love of all things Regency. I have always loved books set in that time and my love of romance novels set in the same era made it a perfect fit. I started researching what they ate and drank in those times, lets be real though we are talking here about what the nobility and rich people ate, not commoners and servants. But, it is fun to see what the hoity toity of those partook in.
The drama of Bridgerton takes place amidst a backdrop of lavish dinners, dances and events. In London, in the 1810s, dinner parties were the height of socializing, and were often a long affair with many dishes. According to the , attendees could expect to be offered soup, meat, game, pickles, jellies, vegetables, custards, puddings- anywhere from five to twenty-five dishes depending on the grandeur of the occasion. Whew. I am tired just thinking about it.
So, here is a little history lesson of what they ate and drank in the Regency times!
How To Make The Ginger Honey Simple Syrup
Simple syrup is a mix of equal parts water and sugar. You can easily flavor your syrup by gently heating it on the stove with your botanicals of choice. This syrup is so easy to make, you dont even have to heat it!
Were using honey instead of white sugar as our sweetener, but you could also make this syrup with sugar instead. To make the syrup, combine ½ cup of honey with ½ cup of water and stir until the honey has dissolved.
Add 2 tablespoons of The Ginger People Ginger Juice and stir to combine. Store any leftover syrup in a sealed bottle or jar in the refrigerator. This syrup should last up to two weeks.
If you cant find the ginger juice, you can also make ginger honey syrup with fresh ginger root, it just takes a little longer.
To make the syrup with ginger root, combine 1/2 cup of honey and 1/2 cup of water in a small saucepan and heat over medium, stirring frequently, until all of the sugar has dissolved.
Add a piece of peeled and chopped ginger root and bring the syrup to a boil. Once bubbling, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes.
Remove the syrup from the heat and let it cool for at least 30 minutes before straining. Strain out the ginger pieces and store the syrup in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
You can also use this ginger honey syrup in my Pear Ginger Pisco Sour!
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How To Make The Cocktail
To make a Classic French 75, pour one ounce of gin and a half ounce each of simple syrup and freshly squeezed lemon juice into a champagne flute.
Top with a few ounces of dry sparkling wine and garnish with a long lemon peel. To make this Honey Ginger French 75, well replace the plain simple syrup with an easy ginger-infused honey simple syrup.
What Kind Of Glass Should I Use
This drink is perfectly sized for a 7- to 8-ounce Champagne flute. Mine are the Nattie from Crate & Barrel, which are really elegant and cost just $4 each, so you never need to stress if someone breaks one.
If your glass falls into that volume range, you can just drop in the gin/lemon mixture and then top with the Champagne. Otherwise, measure out the Champagne to make sure you’re getting the right proportions.
You can also serve the French 75 in a wine glass or coupe glass if you prefer, being sure to measure the ingredients when building the drink.
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Is French 75 A Girly Drink
The French 75 is a popular cocktail that is made with gin, champagne, and lemon juice. It is often referred to as a girly drink, but there is no real consensus on why this is the case. Some people say that the champagne makes it a bit more feminine, while others argue that the drink is simply not as manly as other cocktails.
At the end of the day, it is up to each individual to decide whether or not they consider the French 75 to be a girly drink. If you are a woman and you enjoy this cocktail, then go ahead and drink it with pride! And if you are a man and you dont like the taste of champagne, there are plenty of other cocktails that you can choose from.
How To Make The Best French 75 Cocktail With Empress:
- Gin I use Empress 1908 Gin and I love it, because of its delicious taste and beautiful color.
- Simple Syrup Whether you use honey or sugar, you will need to make a simple syrup. . Just make it ahead of time and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Lemon Juice You will need lemon juice. It not only cuts some of the sweetness, but you need it to enhance the gin.
- Lemon Curls It is very easy to make these lemon curls. Simply slice a ring from the lemon. Make a slice through one side of the peel and the pulp, all the way up to the rind on the other side. Cut the pulp off of the peel so there is one long, thin strip of peel. Twist the peel into a curly-q shape. It will naturally hold its shape.
To read more on the history of Empress Gin and how it came to be, please check out my Empress Pear-Rosemary Gin Cocktail post. It is linked below.
And, for more Empress Gin drink ideas, please give these a try:
- Lemon curls, for garnish
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French 75 Champagne Cocktail
The French 75 is a classic cocktail that blends Champagne with gin, lemon juice, and sugar to make a delightful bubbly sipper.
The French 75 was brought onto the cocktail seen during prohibition in the 1920s, and became famous when it was included in a popular cocktail book in 1930. You can read the full story on liquor.com.
The important thing to note is that gin and Champagne go very well together and youre going to love this classic.
» If you like lemony cocktails, you might also want to try a Vodka Gimlet or a Last Word.
For the gin, we typically use something neutral or with a citrus forward flavor, like Gordons. You can go with something more botanical, but it can be overpowering, in my opinion.
The Champagne doesnt need to be the most expensive bottle. You can go with a Brut or something a bit sweeter, if you like. Ive substituted with Prosecco and Cava before. It does change the cocktail, but its definitely acceptable. Try a few different sparkling wines to find your sweet spot. Just make sure its well chilled.
Another variation of this cocktail thats also very good is to use Cognac in place of the gin. Also very good!
You can get this and many other liquors delivered to your door from Saucey$5 OFF your first order + free delivery with code SAS) or Drizly.Only valid in select states.
To Make These Dry Gin Drinks Start With The Garnish
This might sound counterintuitive, but youll need lemon juice and a twist of lemon for this recipe and its a heck of a lot easier to get that twist from a whole lemon than one thats already been juiced. Before you start blending the gin and champagne cocktail, get out your zester and use the channel tool to scrape a long, thin peel of the rind for the garnish. Set the peel aside, then juice the lemon.
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