The French 75 is a classic drink named after the size of shells which were used by French Artillery guns. Similar to the 75mm shells used, a series of French 75s could do some damaged. Behind the delicate and dainty façade of the sparkling wine there’s a gin kicker and a lemon zinger involved. Best of all, these cocktails are refreshing and easy to make.
French 75
The French 75 is a delightfully refreshing cocktail in line with a Tom Collins, but with a more wine forward kick. The flavors of gin provide a gentle herbal note while the citrus from the wine interacts with the lemon. The small bubbles give a textural appeal, and the drink is in balance between sweet and bracing.
Drink Notes & Recommendations
The French 75 is one of the easiest sparkling cocktails to make, and requires mostly ingredients you already have around. The biggest issues you might encounter are glassware and picking a sparkling wine. We’ll cover the sparkling wine below, but feel free to use a coupe in the event you don’t have a flute.
- Gin – Any gin will actually do for a French 75, although a traditional cocktail will be made with London Dry. We used Beefeater for ours.
- Lemon Juice – For best results, use fresh squeezed.
- Simple Syrup – The standard 1:1 water to sugar simple is recommended here.
- Sparkling Wine – You don’t need to break the bank to make a French 75. Should you choose to use something expensive (like real Champagne with will run $45 – $60), it will be correspondingly good, but the returns aren’t likely to be 4 to 5 times better than using a $10 to $15 bottle of sparkling wine. We recommend prosecco or cava here, and used Kirkland’s Prosecco for ours.