French 75
The French 75 was created at Harry's New York Bar in Paris in 1915 and named after the French 75mm field gun, the defining artillery piece of the First World War on the Western Front. The naming was not incidental: the drink was designed to hit with the force of the weapon, pairing gin and Champagne behind a presentation considerably more elegant than its strength suggests. The structure sits between the Tom Collins and the Champagne Cocktail. A gin sour of gin, fresh lemon juice and sugar syrup is shaken, strained into a flute or coupe, and topped with Champagne rather than soda water. The wine's yeast character, fruit and effervescence interact with the gin and citrus in a way soda cannot. The gin versus cognac debate has run since the drink appeared in print. The gin version is the historically consistent original and the one documented here; the cognac version, richer and more fruit-forward, is a legitimate variation.
Glassware: Champagne Flute
Garnish: Lemon Twist
Ingredients
30ml
A gin with clear juniper character. Needs enough botanical presence to hold its own against the Champagne without the two competing for dominance in the glass.
15ml
Squeezed immediately before use. The acid backbone that stops the Champagne's sweetness from tipping the drink toward cloying.
15ml
One part white sugar dissolved in one part warm water. Calibrated against the dryness of the Champagne being used. A brut Champagne requires slightly more syrup than a sweeter style.
60ml
Well chilled before pouring. A dry brut Champagne or quality dry sparkling wine. Add last and pour gently down the inside of the glass to preserve the effervescence.
Instructions
Squeeze lemon juice immediately before building the drink.
Chill a Champagne flute or coupe in the freezer or with ice water.
Add gin, fresh lemon juice, and sugar syrup to a shaker with a scoop of cubed ice.
Shake hard for 12 seconds.
Discard the chilling ice from the glass and double strain the cocktail into it.
Top gently with well-chilled Champagne, pouring slowly down the inside of the glass.
Cut a wide strip of lemon peel and express the oils over the surface of the drink.
Rest the peel on the rim and serve immediately.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification; method ours). Last checked 13 August 2026.
Expert Tip
Shake only the gin sour base and add the Champagne after straining. Shaking Champagne destroys the carbonation entirely and produces a flat drink. The sour should be shaken cold and strained clean before the wine goes anywhere near it. Double strain. Ice chips in a Champagne cocktail are more apparent than in a still drink, and they dilute the effervescence unevenly as they melt. Pour the Champagne slowly down the inside of the glass. At 60ml it is nearly half the drink's volume, so preserving its carbonation into the first sip is not a detail. Calibrate the syrup to the wine. A properly brut Champagne wants slightly more than a softer sparkling wine does, and fifteen millilitres is a starting figure rather than a fixed one.
Flavour Profile
The Origin
Harry’s New York Bar on the Rue Daunou was one of the most significant cocktail bars of the early twentieth century, a gathering point for American expatriates, servicemen, and international travellers. Tod Sloan opened the bar in 1911 and Harry MacElhone acquired it in 1923, but it was producing significant drinks before MacElhone’s ownership, and the French 75 is documented there from 1915. The name referred to the Canon de 75 modèle 1897, the French army’s standard field artillery piece, celebrated for its accuracy, rate of fire, and force of impact. Naming a drink after it in 1915, in the middle of the war, carried a specific cultural context, and the combination of gin and Champagne, French and British in a single glass, held its own wartime symbolism for a bar serving Allied servicemen and expatriates in equal measure.
Gin Versus Cognac
Both versions have documentary support and both produce drinks of quality. The gin version appears in Harry MacElhone’s own writing and is the version most consistently cited as the original. The cognac version appeared in other bar guides of the same era and has been championed by New Orleans bartending culture, where the French 75 Bar at Arnaud’s Restaurant has served it as the canonical build for decades. The gin version is more tart, more botanical, and more bracing; the cognac version is rounder, more fruit-forward, and better suited to a long, celebratory evening. Both are worth making. The gin version is the starting point.
The Champagne Choice
The Champagne is not a background ingredient. At 60ml in a total build of approximately 140ml it is nearly half the drink’s volume and defines its character as much as the gin sour base does. Brut Champagne, with its low residual sugar and high acidity, is the correct choice; a sweet sparkling wine pushes the drink toward cloying territory that the gin’s juniper and the lemon’s acid cannot fully correct. A quality Champagne is not required: dry sparkling wines from Crémant producers in France or Cava from Spain perform well at considerably lower cost. What is required is that the wine be genuinely dry, genuinely well-chilled, and added with enough care to preserve its carbonation into the first sip.
The Build Sequence
The French 75 is unusual among Champagne cocktails in shaking its gin sour base before the Champagne is added. Most sparkling wine cocktails combine everything directly in the glass; here, shaking the gin, lemon, and sugar with ice produces a properly diluted, well-chilled sour that integrates completely before the Champagne arrives. The wine is then added to a finished, balanced sour, and its effervescence lifts and extends the drink rather than being asked to do the integration work the shake has already performed. It requires one more piece of equipment and one more step. The result justifies both.
How to Serve It
Shaken, double strained into a chilled flute or coupe, topped carefully with well-chilled Champagne, and finished with expressed lemon peel over the surface. Serve immediately and serve it cold. The French 75 is a celebratory drink, suited to occasions that call for genuine spirit alongside the Champagne rather than simply sparkling wine in a long glass. It is also, as its name suggests, stronger than it appears: the gin measure is generous and the Champagne’s alcohol adds to a total ABV the elegant presentation does not advertise. Serve it with that knowledge and give the drinker the context to appreciate what is in the glass.
The Spirit
GinA flavour requirement rather than a method. The law asks only that juniper be the predominant taste and that the spirit reach 37.5%, which leaves everything else on the botanical bill to the distiller and permits a gin that was never redistilled at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a French 75?
A gin sour, gin, fresh lemon, and sugar, shaken and topped with Champagne rather than soda. Created at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris in 1915, it sits between the Tom Collins and the Champagne Cocktail.
Why is it named after a gun?
The Canon de 75 modèle 1897, the French army’s standard field artillery piece, celebrated for its force of impact. The drink was built to hit as hard behind a presentation far more elegant than its strength suggests.
Do I need real Champagne?
Dry and cold matters more than the label: a good Crémant or Cava performs well at lower cost. What is required is that the wine be genuinely brut; a sweet sparkling wine tips it toward cloying territory the gin and lemon cannot correct.
Master the Techniques
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Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits
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