Cocktail French 75 has a sweet and sour refreshing taste with light juniper notes and with a strength of about 16% vol. causes rapid intoxication. The drink belongs to the “Collins family” – cocktails based on spirits with lemon juice and soda.
Historical information
The French 75 cocktail is named after a lightweight, rapid-firing French 75mm gun from the First World War. It is believed that the drink quickly and accurately “kills” on the spot, like a cannon. This is not surprising – due to the carbon dioxide, champagne enhances the intoxication caused by gin.
The name was invented by American volunteer pilots from Lafayette Squadron, who fought on the side of France. The pilots loved to celebrate victories with a mixture of cognac and champagne, and this combination reminded them of shots from a 75-mm gun.
The first recipe, called 75 Cocktail, appeared in 1923 in the ABC Cocktails reference book by legendary bartender Harry McElhone. True, the composition was completely different: Calvados, gin, anise tincture and grenadine. A few years later, Frank Meyer, the bartender at the Ritz in Paris, replaced Calvados and Grenadine with gin and champagne.
In 1930, Harry Creddock, in the final version of his collection The Savoy Cocktail Book, published a cocktail French 75, which included: gin, champagne, lemon juice and sugar syrup. This recipe has become a classic. French 75 is now one of the official cocktails of the International Bartenders Association (IBA) in the Contemporary classics category.
Interestingly, the composition of the French 75 is almost similar to the Tom Collins cocktail, only sparkling wine is taken instead of soda.
In 1942, French 75 appeared in the American film Casablanca. The main character, Rick Blaine, treats his beloved with a drink in one of the bars of the city, knowing that he will never see her again.
Cocktail recipe French 75
Composition and proportions:
- gin – 30 ml;
- champagne (sparkling wine) – 50 ml;
- lemon juice – 15 ml;
- sugar syrup (sugar and water in equal parts) – 15 ml;
- lemon peel – for decoration.
It is advisable to use dry champagne (brut), then the cocktail will turn out to be well balanced in acidity and sweetness. In the case of semi-dry or semi-sweet sparkling wine, less sugar syrup is required – 5-10 ml.
Preparation
1. Add gin, sugar syrup and fresh lemon juice to an ice-filled shaker.
2. Shake, strain the mixture through a strainer (bar strainer) into a pre-chilled champagne glass (flute) or cocktail glass (martini glass).
3. Pour in the champagne (sparkling wine) and stir gently. Garnish with lemon zest if desired.
variations
There are several versions of the cocktail, in which the gin is replaced by another strong alcoholic base:
- French 76 – with vodka;
- French 95 – with bourbon;
- French 125 – with cognac.
It is believed that the larger the caliber, the faster the intoxication, therefore the most “lethal” combination is based on cognac.