Name: French 75 (Difford's recipe)
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 30 ml Lemon juice; 2 barspoon Powdered sugar; 15 ml Old Tom gin; 15 ml Calvados apple brandy; 15 ml Cognac (brandy); 5 ml Grenadine syrup; 2 dash Absinthe; 75 ml Brut sparkling wine

French 75 (Difford's recipe)
Jump to

Serve in a Collins glass

Ingredients:
1 oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
2 barspoon	Powdered sugar (white sugar ground in mortar and pestle) or use 5ml of 2:1 sugar syrup per spoon
¹⁄₂ oz	Hayman's Old Tom Gin
¹⁄₂ oz	Calvados / apple brandy / straight applejack
¹⁄₂ oz	Rémy Martin V.S.O.P. cognac
¹⁄₆ oz	Monin Grenadine Syrup
2 dash	La Fée Parisienne absinthe
2 ¹⁄₂ oz	Brut champagne/sparkling wine

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Collins glass.
Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist.
STIR powdered sugar with lemon juice in base of shaker until sugar dissolves.
Add next 5 ingredients (all but sparkling wine) and SHAKE with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
TOP with sparkling wine and briefly stir. (Or pour half the sparling wine into the glass first to help reduce foaming and eliminate need to stir.)
EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Brut champagne/sparkling wine - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

I've Colin Field to thank for my French 75 epiphany. One evening in early June 2017 I was sat at his bar (Bar Hemingway) and he showed me the vintage 75ml gun cartridge he keeps there and pointed out how it is shaped like a tall Collins glass and not a flute. The French 75 was originally served in a tall cartridge-shaped glass, and I now agree with Colin – it is a drink that should pack a punch and should be served in a Collins glass. I'm now also the proud owner of two vintage 75mm cartridges, one being a fine example of trench art.

So, there you have it; it took a man called Colin to persuade me to use a Collins glass. Incidentally, Colin's bar lies a 5-minute walk away from where the '75' Cocktail is thought to have been created.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Soixante-Quinze (1915 Washington Herald recipe) - with dry gin, applejack bonded, grenadine and lemon juice.
"75" Cocktail (Vermeire's 1922 recipe) - with dry gin, calvados, lemon juice and grenadine.
"75" Cocktail (MacElhone's 1926 recipe) - with calvados, dry gin, grenadine and absinthe.
French 75 (Judge Jr's 1927 recipe) - with lemon juice, powdered sugar, dry gin and champagne.
French 75 (late 1980s/90s incarnation) - with lemon juice, powdered sugar, dry gin and champagne.

History:

Created by yours truly, this combines Robert Vermeire's 1922 French 75 with the cognac and champagne now so identified with this classic. And thanks to Colin Field's influence, this French 75 is served in an ice-filled Collins glass rather than straight-up in a flute or coupe.
See: French 75 history.

More cocktails by Simon Difford

Alcohol content:

1.5 standard drinks
13.06% alc./vol. (13.06° proof)
20.3 grams of pure alcohol

More Anytime cocktails
More Aperitivo/aperitif cocktails
More Breakfast/brunch cocktails
More Champagne cocktails
More Classic/vintage cocktails
More Hall of Fame & must know/try cocktails
More Party 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 9 comments for French 75 (Difford's recipe).
See discussion in the Forum

Please log in to make a comment

Ruth Harvey

31st December 2024 at 16:50

I had the same problem as Helen -only the opposite - No calvados so used a full shot of Brandy (Torres 20 yr old) instead. Our first cocktail of the Evening and undoubtedly one of the last of 2024 (it's NYE). Fantastic cocktail!

Avery Garnett

7th March 2024 at 19:15

Having tried all 3 of the french 75s that have sparkling wine (judge jr's, the 1980s, and this) - this is hands down the best of the 3 and an outstandingly good drink...but it doesn't taste like a french 75. It doesn't have the gin+fizz backbone, because the cognac and calvados (and the absinthe) are far more prominent. Don't get me wrong, this is the best sparkling wine cocktail I've had - but I don't think it's much of a French 75.

Nick Marks

5th January 2024 at 17:40

Simply wonderful, imagine if you have run out out of Pimms No1 cup in the summer, a real upgrade if you ask me

Helen Clipsom

1st January 2024 at 00:07

I have Robert Vermeire's book. I also have a Collins glass very similar to the one pictured. What I couldn't find this New Years Eve was the French brandy - housewights must have been partying again! So it got two measures of Calvados instead. A very fine cocktail.

Felicia Stratton

1st August 2022 at 23:50

A person at the distillery and I have had many (!!!) disagreements about the "incorrectness" of a French 75 over ice. I know unequivocally that I am right. This recipe is 100% the Right Way!!

Michael Ciemnoczolowski

11th July 2022 at 13:14

A man named Colin Fields inspired you to serve a drink named after a field gun in a Collins glass. Difford's Guide never fails to deliver, even at 8 o'clock on a random Monday morning when mixing and drinking are the absolute last of one's intentions. Bravo

Nancy Walker

23rd October 2021 at 00:20

I am very much looking forward to making this cocktail but am a little unsure of how to interpret '2 spoons of powdered sugar'. Bar spoons? Going by what I've read, European bar spoons measure about half the amount of American style bar spoons (about 1 teaspoon US measurement).

Simon Difford

23rd October 2021 at 08:46

2 spoons = 2 barspoons. To be precise use a 5ml chef's measure as your spoon and fill it with powdered sugar so flat across the top of the measure. I use a mortar and pestle to grind the sugar into a powder and I then scoop the sugar with the chef's measure. I then knock the measure on the side of the mortar to remove excess sugar to leave a flat meaure of sugar.

John Hinojos

16th March 2021 at 00:05

Outstanding. Great balance of everything. For me the Pernod was perfect (I may have added a little more than the recipe). I agree with Andrew Robbie, I have a little bigger glasses and increase the recipe.

Andrew Robbie

1st May 2020 at 17:29

Top class cocktail. A great balance of ingredients that pack a satisfying punch into a refreshing drink. Being greedy, it is so good to serve in a Collins glass or bigger! Thanks to Colin Field and Simon.

Simon Difford

1st May 2020 at 17:56

Thanks for your kind words Andrew.

See discussion in the Forum