This French 75 recipe is the perfect cocktail to wow party guests without a lot of fuss. Made with champagne, gin, and simple syrup, this is the perfect drink to make for a celebration, ladies night, or date night in!
While so many people enjoy popping a nice cold bottle of champagne it doesn’t occur to many to turn that bottle of bubbly into a great cocktail recipe. Always having fun playing the mixologist or bartender, I love the idea of champagne being the beginning of a great cocktail. Given that I am also a huge fan of gin, the French 75 has always caught my eye on cocktail menus.
This historic cocktail has been around since the World War I era and gets its name from the French 75mm field gun, as it was said that a sip was as strong as the firearm. I’ve never been to war, but I have had this cocktail, and I think it leans a lot more towards light and refreshing than shot gun. That said, you might want to stick with one and see how it goes.
It is, however, a lot of fun to imagine myself sitting in a flapper dress at a bar ordering one.
Ingredients for a French 75
This citrusy, refreshing French 75 cocktail is so easy to make. And you won’t have to search high and low for ingredients. In fact, you probably have them in your kitchen right now! Here’s what you need:
- Gin
- Lemon juice, fresh is always best, but you can use bottled in a pinch
- Simple Syrup – use my easy recipe, or buy it in the cocktail section of the grocery store
- Cold Champagne
French 75 Variations
A classic French 75 is made with gin. I love using Bombay Sapphire in mine because that cool crisp taste holds up perfectly against the lemon and champagne. But you use what you love most.
Other variations use cognac, leading to a more hearty drink than the gin, and vodka.
I like to stick with the classic gin recipe, but as I said, I rarely say no to gin.
The type of champagne you use is totally up too you. I would say that you want something on the drier side since you are already adding simple syrup to this. If you like very sweet drinks then get any sweet sparkling white wine that speaks to you.
How to Make French 75 Recipe
- First, combine the gin, lemon juice and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
- Next, give it a good shake, combining all that delicious flavor.
- Then, pour into champagne flutes.
- Finally, top with refreshing bubbly and give it a gentle stir.
For the Garnish
You can use a lemon peeler to give it that nice little garnish or you can cut a single strip of lemon rind and twist it up, finally hanging it off the edge of your champagne flute.
The Mixing Key
The key to making this recipe is shaking the first three ingredients really well with ice until the shaker is noticeably cold on the outside. This will ensure that the whole cocktail has a great chill to it.
Other Great Gin Cocktails
If you love your gin just as much as I do, you will love these other gin cocktails. I am truly a heartfelt fan of all of them (pssst, don’t tell the others but the moscow mule is my favorite).
French 75
Ingredients
- 2 ounces gin
- 3/4 ounce lemon juice
- 1/2 ounce simple syrup
- 2 ounces champagne
Instructions
- Mix the gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup together in a cocktail shaker with ice until very cold.
- Top with champagne.
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