French 75: The Cocktail That Launched a Thousand Taste Buds

🍸 The Art of Liquid: When Gin Met Champagne

Meet the French 75, the cocktail equivalent of a love letter written in champagne bubbles and gin-soaked poetry. This effervescent beauty is what happens when French sophistication meets British gin in a glass, creating a drink so elegant it could make a sommelier weep tears of joy

🕰️ A Brief History: From Battlefield to Bar

The French 75 didn't just arrive—it detonated onto the scene. Named after France's legendary 75mm field gun from World War I, this cocktail was designed to mimic the cannon's "kick". Legend says it was invented in 1915 at Harry's New York Bar in Paris, where bartender Harry MacElhone mixed gin, lemon, sugar, and champagne to calm nerves during air raids. Patrons claimed it hit with the same precision as the artillery—hence the name.

Initially, the recipe varied, with some versions including cognac, absinthe, or calvados. However, the modern incarnation—a mix of gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and Champagne—was popularized in the 1920s and solidified in cocktail culture by its inclusion in "The Savoy Cocktail Book" in 1930.

---

🔬 Laboratory-Grade Recipe (For Discerning Palates)

The Arsenal

Ingredient	Measurement	Pro Tip
London Dry Gin	1 oz	Use a quality London Dry—your taste buds will thank you
Fresh Lemon Juice	0.5 oz	Fresh is best; bottled lemon juice is the enemy of joy
Simple Syrup (1:1)	0.5 oz	Equal parts sugar and water, dissolved with love
Brut Champagne	2 oz	The bubblier, the better—save the flat stuff for cooking
Ice Cubes	As needed	make you cool

Tactical Mixology Guide

1️⃣ Frost Warfare
Chill Champagne flute in freezer (minimum 10 minutes)

2️⃣ Shaker Combat

• Combine gin, lemon, syrup in Shaker
• Add ice older than your Twitter account
• Shake like you're mad at the Prohibition era (12 seconds max)

3️⃣ Double-strain
Double-strain into chilled glass through Hawthorne filter

4️⃣ Bubble Artillery
Top with champagne as tenderly as if delivering a love letter to your first crush.

5️⃣ Sense of ceremony
Garnish with lemon peel — congratulations, you've created a cocktail ready for battle.

🕵️ Decoding the Classic Charm of French 75

The first sip hits you with the botanical complexity of gin, followed by the bright tartness of fresh lemon that wakes up every taste bud. The syrup rounds out the edges, while the champagne adds effervescence and a dry, crisp finish that practically demands another sip. It's like a perfectly orchestrated dance between sweet, sour, and sparkling.

🎩 Fun Facts About French 75

• Champagne flute: The French 75 was originally served in a Collins glass over ice (1920s style), not a flute. Fancy flutes came later!
• Artillery Accuracy: The original French 75mm gun could fire 15 rounds per minute. Coincidentally, that's about how fast some people can drink French 75 cocktails, though we don't recommend testing this theory.
• The Danger Zone: The bubbles in champagne speed up alcohol absorption, meaning the French 75 hits faster than most cocktails. It's the stealth bomber of the cocktail world—beautiful, sophisticated, and surprisingly effective.

"Drinking a French 75 is like being kissed on the throat by an angel and a devil at the same time." - Anonymous alcoholic philosopher