Cocktail recipe
French 75
Gin and lemon gain an exhilarating sparkling finish in this elegant Champagne classic.
Ingredients
- 30 ml (1 oz) gin
- 15 ml (½ oz) fresh lemon juice
- 15 ml (½ oz) simple syrup (1:1)
- 60 ml (2 oz) chilled brut Champagne
- Garnish: 1 lemon twist
Preparation
Shake the non-sparkling ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled flute and top slowly with Champagne. Serve promptly to preserve the bubbles; do not shake the Champagne.
Glassware
Champagne flute
History
The French 75 takes its name from the French army's 75 mm field gun, but the earliest wartime drinks named '75' did not necessarily contain Champagne. Early 1910s accounts and later 1922 MacElhone/Vermeire recipes describe different gin-and-apple-brandy combinations. The recognizable gin, lemon, sugar and Champagne version is documented in Judge Jr.'s *Here's How* (1927), where it was served in a tall glass, and in Harry Craddock's *Savoy Cocktail Book* (1930). A claim that MacElhone published the modern Champagne formula in 1919 is not supported by the evidence checked here; his early printed drink was materially different. **Attribution confidence:** See sourced account and qualifications above.
Mixology View
The artillery name predates a stable formula. Mixology treats the 1927 Champagne version as the earliest well-documented modern lineage, and our flute as a contemporary presentation; a Collins glass is historically grounded.