| Type | Cocktail |
|---|---|
| Primary alcohol by volume | |
| Standard drinkware | champagne tulip |
| Commonly used ingredients |
|
| Preparation | Combine gin, sugar, and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into an iced champagne glass. Fill with Champagne. Garnish with a twist of lemon. |
French 75 is a cocktail made from gin, Champagne, lemon juice, and sugar.
The drink was created in 1915 at the New York Bar in Paris---later Harry's New York Bar---by barman Harry MacElhone. The combination was said to have such a kick that it felt like being shelled with the powerful French 75mm field gun, also called a "75 Cocktail", or "Soixante Quinze" in French. The French 75 was popularized in America at the Stork Club in New York.
The drink's recipe was first recorded in The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930. The recipe in the Savoy Cocktail Book uses gin. A later cocktail book, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks by David Embury, claims that the French 75 is a Cognac-based drink.
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. - July 1960 Issue of Gourmet Magazine
In the same family as the various versions of champagne cocktail is the celebrated French 75, an elixir which, if it did not actually have its origin in the first of the German wars, at least came to the general attention of American drinkers at that time and was immediately enshrined in the pharmacopoeia of alcohol artistry in the United States upon the conclusion of hostilities in 1919. - Lucius Beebe, The Stork Club Bar Book
Hits with remarkable precision. - Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book
It's unclear what makes the French 75 so powerful—maybe it's the combination of liquors— but, whoo boy, do you feel it when you down one! - Jean Shepherd, raconteur and author