1960s Recipes + Menus

French “75”

July 1960
    For some reason, there is debate about whether this cocktail should be made with Cognac or gin. The first published recipe—gin-based—seems to have appeared in The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, but 20 years later David Embury wrote, in The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, “Gin is sometimes used in place of cognac in this drink, but then, of course, it no longer should be called French.” Embury ignores Champagne’s French origins, not to mention the 75-millimeter cannon for which the drink was named. The drink’s surprising firepower makes its name quite appropriate (and “Model 1897” just doesn’t have the same ring).

  • Half fill a cocktail shaker with cracked ice and add 1 jigger dry gin, 1 teaspoon bar syrup [simple syrup] and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Shake the mixture vigorously and strain it into a highball glass packed with cracked ice. Fill the glass with chilled Champagne.
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