French 75 – Friday’s Featured Cocktail

In our opinion, the French 75 is the Queen of all cocktails. It’s what we are toasting our Birthday’s with this year – so we post it here for Friday’s Featured Cocktail! It has an initial sweet sensation and a very smooth cognac finish. It’s refreshing, sophisticated and very special since cognac and champagne are truly treats for most who imbibe.

The French 75 is always a huge hit with female guests and is perfect for special occasions like Brithdays, Easter or Mother’s Day brunches. The cocktail was originally made with Gin not Cognac, but we like the Cognac version much better. In your travels you will come across several versions like The French 100 which was named the Fairmont Hotels’ Centennial Cocktail, the French 75 (my friends and I lovingly call it “The Plucky”) at the top rated Pluckemin Inn, Bedminster, NJ, and the French 75 on the menu at Manhattan’s meatpacking district favorite, Pastis to name a few.

Although this cocktail is really quite special, you can easily make it, to enjoy it at home or serve to your guests at parties. You will need to play with the ratio of lemon juice/tartness to sugar/sweetness so that it suites your taste.

Official Recipe
French 75 with Cognac

Ingredients:

1 1/2 oz cognac
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
6 oz Champagne

Directions:
Combine cognac, sugar and lemon juice in shaker. Add ice and shake till chilled. Pour into champagne flute. Pour champagne over cognac concoction. Garnish with lemon curl. To make a lemon curl, use a carrot peeler to peel one 2” long peel from the outside skin of one washed lemon. Twist peel and place on top of champagne glass.

Cheers!