Name: Champs-Elysees
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Cognac (brandy); 10 ml Chartreuse Green; 20 ml Lemon juice; 15 ml Sugar syrup (2:1); 7.5 ml Chilled water; 1 dash Aromatic bitters; 2 drop Saline solution 4:1

Champs-Elysees
Jump to

Keep screen awake

Glass:

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ fl oz	Cognac (brandy)
¹⁄₃ fl oz	Green Chartreuse (or alternative herbal liqueur)
²⁄₃ fl oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Sugar syrup 'rich' (2 sugar to 1 water, 65.0°Brix)
¹⁄₄ fl oz	Chilled water/mineral water omit if using wet ice
1 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters
2 drop	Saline solution (20g sea salt to 80g water) or merest pinch of s

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Cocktail of the day:

4th June 2026 is National Cognac Day

Review:

A great after-dinner cocktail for lovers of brandy and Chartreuse. The sweet elements in this sour are cranked up but balanced by spiritous alcohol. Achieving perfect dilution in this classic is crucial to its deliciousness.

View readers' comments

Variations/similar cocktails:

Sidecar
Marigny

History:

A riff on the Sidecar, The Champs-Élysées is named after the touristy Parisian avenue. The first known recipe for this cocktail appears in Nina Toye and Arthur H. Adair's 1925 Drinks-Long and Short.

CHAMPS ELYSÉES
Three glasses of brandy, one glass of Chartreuse and one and a half glasses of sweetened lemon juice, put in the shaker with a dash of Angostura Bitters.
Nina Toye and Arthur H. Adair, 1925

Nutrition:

One serving of Champs-Elysees contains 188 calories

Alcohol content:

1.3 standard drinks
17.76% alc./vol. (35.52° proof)
18.7 grams of pure alcohol

More After dinner/digestif cocktails
More Citrusy cocktails
More Classic/vintage cocktails
More Hall of Fame & must know/try cocktails
More Sours (citrus) cocktails

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

Join the discussion

Showing 10 of 31 comments for Champs-Elysees.
See discussion in the Forum

Please log in to make a comment

Bill and Audrey Kopp

21st June at 22:45

We tried substituting Escorial in place of Chartreuse and were dazzled by the resulting cocktail.

Tuber Magnatum

4th June at 22:29

Tried this again having first time rated as a true favourite. As the original recipe called for Chartreuse unspecified, on second iteration, as I love both versions of Chartreuse, I used as have others yellow instead of green. Obviously which you prefer is a function of ones personal preference , but having tried both now, I believe green works better.

Gabor

30th January at 19:21

Nice cocktail, but it's much better if you add 2 oz of brandy instead of 1.5.

Robert Spain

1st January at 00:06

Excellent. The right amount of sweetness to balance the sourness of lemon. I used Spanish brandy, slightly sweeter that cognac, and it works fine. All the ingredients shine.

Doug Bain

6th December 2025 at 02:15

Delicious. Tastes as if a bit of an amaro is in there, a la an Adriatique. On to the favorites list she goes.

Marie-Therese Straus

3rd December 2025 at 03:44

This is lovely! We used Yellow Chartreuse instead of Green and cut back just a bit on the sugar syrup but kept the lemon and Cognac the same as in the recipe. Rounded and balanced and very sophisticated. We'll definitely be making this again and likely will make it for friends during the holiday season.

Bastian Adolphs

7th November 2025 at 20:42

I used Camus VS Cognac, easily one of the best cocktails i ever had.

Florian Ruf

7th November 2025 at 16:18

Today I made a variation using Calvados and yellow Chartreuse. This was really good and I suggest to try it. As I played there several times I would like to name this variation "Theatre des Champs Elysees (a great Art Deco building).

Creed Erickson

4th September 2025 at 19:39

While this makes a fine drink, all other specs I've seen for this cocktail call for yellow Chartreuse. Not that it's any more available...

Martin Boyer

16th February 2025 at 23:15

In honour of Team Canada's game against the Americans, I substituted maple syrup for the cane syrup. Drink was great, but Team Canada didn't win. Not sure I'd drink again.

See discussion in the Forum