French 75

What a French 75 should taste like

Sharp, dry and dangerously easy to drink. Gin and lemon give it a bright spine, the sugar rounds off the acid just enough, and the champagne adds lift rather than sweetness. The trap is warmth: a French 75 built with heavy syrup and lukewarm wine tastes like lemonade.

French 75 measures in ml and oz

The classic build is three parts gin, one part lemon, one part syrup, topped with sparkling wine.

For a pitcher, add the sparkling wine at the last second and never stir the batch afterwards. Keep the gin in the freezer.

Technique: shake the base, top the fizz

Shake the gin, lemon and syrup with cubed ice for 10 to 12 seconds, long enough to chill and dilute but short enough to keep the drink tight. Strain into a chilled flute, top slowly with cold sparkling wine, and lift it once with a bar spoon. Pouring down the inside of a tilted glass preserves more bubbles. Skip ice in the serving glass; one cube flattens the drink within a minute.

Alcohol strength and calories

Gin at 40% and sparkling wine near 12% combine to roughly 20% ABV in a classic flute, dropping towards 16% on the longer build. Serve sizes vary between bars, so treat any single figure as approximate. One flute holds around 20 ml of pure alcohol and roughly 165 kcal.

Choosing the gin and the wine

A London Dry with clear juniper and citrus peel is the benchmark: Tanqueray, Beefeater or Plymouth. Modern citrus-forward gins can make the drink taste like hard lemonade. For the wine, dry Brut is safest. Prosecco, cava and cremant all substitute well. Avoid anything with noticeable residual sugar.

Substitutions and variations

• Cognac French 75 — the older serve, softer, with raisin and oak notes.
• Rosé French 75 — rosé sparkling wine, for a rounder red-fruit finish.
• French 75 Royale — a splash of crème de cassis under the wine, which turns it deep pink.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

• Warm sparkling wine. Chill it for three hours at least; the drink has no ice to hide behind.
• Over-shaking. Past 15 seconds you only add water and lose the lemon’s sharpness.
• A narrow flute. It traps the aroma; a small white-wine glass tastes better.
• Too much syrup. If it tastes like lemon squash, cut the syrup to 10 ml rather than adding lemon.

Food pairings and timing

Serve it before dinner with oysters, prawns, salted almonds, fried courgette or cured ham; the acid and bubbles handle anything salty and fried. Keep the food small and salty, because cream or cheese will dull the lemon.

French 75 FAQ

Is a French 75 made with gin or Cognac?

Both are correct. The Cognac version is the older serve, recorded in the 1920s; gin became standard in American bars. Cognac gives a softer, rounder drink.

What can I use instead of champagne?

Any dry sparkling wine: prosecco for something fruitier, cava for a drier, earthier note, or cremant for the closest thing to champagne at a lower price.