Cocktail · Medium strength
French 75
Gin, lemon, and Champagne — named after artillery, lands like confetti.
How to order it: Served in a flute. Celebration in liquid form.
Flavor profile
The recipe
- 1 oz gin
- ½ oz lemon juice
- ½ oz simple syrup
- Shake; strain into a flute
- Top with Champagne; lemon twist
The story
Named for the French 75mm field gun, the quick-firing artillery piece that defined the Western Front, the drink emerged from the WWI era and is most associated with Harry's New York Bar in Paris, with the recipe codified in print by 1930's Savoy Cocktail Book. Earlier, rougher versions circulated under the name Soixante-Quinze, and bartenders have argued gin-versus-cognac ever since — New Orleans, characteristically, takes the cognac side. The conceit is the point: gin and lemon, already a respectable sour, given a Champagne payload. It endures because it weaponizes celebration — the rare drink that feels equally right at a wedding, a funeral, and the bar at 5:01 p.m.
Adjacent pours