Cocktail recipe
French 76
Vodka, lemon and Champagne sparkle in a crisp, modern cousin of the French 75.
Ingredients
- 45 ml (1½ oz) vodka
- 15 ml (½ oz) fresh lemon juice
- 10 ml (⅓ oz) simple syrup (1:1)
- 75 ml (2½ oz) chilled brut Champagne or dry sparkling wine
- Garnish: 1 cocktail cherry
Preparation
Shake vodka, lemon and syrup briefly but decisively with ice. Fine-strain into a chilled flute and top slowly with brut sparkling wine to preserve its lively mousse. Drop in one cherry; avoid stirring away the bubbles.
Glassware
Chilled Champagne flute
History
The French 76 is a vodka variation on the gin-based French 75, whose recognizable Champagne-and-citrus form was documented in 1927 and 1930. The “76” name is a playful numerical update, not evidence of a particular military gun, Parisian invention or original 1976 creation. No reliably documented individual inventor or definitive first published date for the vodka variant has been established. Modern French 76 recipes generally combine vodka, lemon, sugar and Champagne or other sparkling wine, sometimes using a cherry garnish. This house formula follows that recognizable structure with fully measured sparkling wine.
Mixology View
The swap from gin to vodka makes the bubbles and lemon more prominent. It is a clean modern variation; inventing a grand origin story would add nothing.