French 75 Variations

Get to know the French 75, a classic cocktail and the many French 75 variations you can make by switching up the ingredients. These champagne cocktails are traditionally made with gin, lemon juice and champagne, but can be mixed up into other delicious drink combinations.

Bright and bubbly, the French 75 is a classic cocktail that is perfect for celebrating anything, toasting with on New Year’s Eve or ordering at a cocktail bar.

It can be made the classic way or you can try one of the many French 75 variations with different spirits, juices and flavored syrups.

What is a French 75?

The French 75 drink is a perfect cocktail made with dry champagne, dry gin, fresh lemon juice and simple syrup for a touch of sweetness. It is considered a spin on the Tom Collins cocktail, calling for French champagne instead of club soda.

The sugar syrup, gin and lemon juice are given a good shake with ice in a cocktail shaker, then poured into a champagne glass and topped with bubbly. It is one of the easiest cocktails you can make and it looks absolutely sensational.

The classic recipe is often garnished with a lemon twist, which is a piece of lemon peel that has been curled into a spiral shape. It is served in either a champagne flute or a coupe glass. It can also be served over ice in a collins glass.

History of the French 75

According to cocktail historian David Wondrich, the history of the French 75 goes back to 1927 — at the height of prohibition — when the recipe was printed in a book called Here’s How! put out by a New York humor magazine.

After that, it was printed in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book and rose in popularity. This classic gin cocktail is considered to be the only classic drink born during Prohibition.

The name is said to come from the French 75 mm field gun used in World War I. According to Difford’s Guide. A bartender named Henry Tépé of Henry’s Bar in Paris may have named the cocktail “Soixante Quinze” (meaning seventy-five in French) after the weapon even earlier, around 1914/15. Some say the gun and the cocktail “both knock you flat.”

Best sparkling wine for French 75s

With “French” in the name of the French 75, it would make sense to use French champagne in this bubbly cocktail.

However, sparkling wine can only be called “champagne” if it comes from the Champagne region of France. If it comes from anywhere else — even another region in France — it gets another moniker altogether.

But because it’s so exclusive, brut champagne tends to be pricy, so more affordable sparkling wines like Italian prosecco or Spanish cava can work too. There are also delicious sparkling wines made in the United States.

When you’re shopping for sparkling wine, pick up the best bottle you can afford. A bottle in the $10-30 range would suffice for this bubbly cocktail.

Look for “brut” or “dry” on the label — a dry sparkling wine works best with the added sugar in the simple syrup of this cocktail.

French 75 Variations

When you change up the base spirit in the French 75 to make a similar recipe, the name changes too — à la the Bloody Mary. Try one of these great cocktail combinations next time you mix up a French 75.

• The classic way, the French 75 is made with dry gin.
• When made with vodka, it’s called a French 76.
• The French 77 is made with elderflower liqueur.
• Then there’s French 95, which is made with bourbon.
• With cognac, it’s called a French 125.
• And when made with brandy, it’s called a French .45.

Beyond the spirit, you can mix things up with other flavors, such as using other spirits, fruit juices, purées and flavored simple syrups. (The amount of simple syrup can be adjusted to one’s preferred sweetness level.)

You can make a non-alcoholic version with a zero-proof gin such as Ritual gin alternative and a non-alcoholic bubbly such as ginger beer or sparkling lemonade.

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