Medium · sparkling
French 75
Gin, lemon and sugar shaken cold, then topped with champagne. Dry, sharp and dressed for a wedding.
- Pour
- 130 ml
- Strength
- Medium
- Best for
- Weddings, Dinner parties
- Season
- All year
- Fizz
- Added at the door
- Ahead
- Jug ahead, top at the door
The welcome pour
One glass, 130 ml
Champagne flute, no ice. Garnish: a long lemon twist.
The spec, according to the IBA: 30 ml gin, 15 ml fresh lemon juice and 15 ml sugar syrup shaken with ice and strained into a flute, then topped with 60 ml champagne.
| Ingredient | Per glass | When |
|---|---|---|
| Gin | 30 ml (1 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Fresh lemon juice | 15 ml (0.5 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Sugar syrup (1:1) | 15 ml (0.5 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Champagne or dry sparkling wine | 60 ml (2 fl oz) | at the door |
| Cold water, in the jug only (stands in for the shaker’s melt) | 10 ml | in the jug |
The jug
How much for your party
One welcome drink per guest plus a 15% spare. Sparkling wine and soda are counted here but stay in the fridge until the door.
| Ingredient | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Gin 1 × 700 ml bottle (750 ml in the US) | 420 ml 14 fl oz | in the jug |
| Fresh lemon juice | 210 ml 7 fl oz | in the jug |
| Sugar syrup (1:1) | 210 ml 7 fl oz | in the jug |
| Champagne or dry sparkling wine 2 × 750 ml bottles | 850 ml 28.5 fl oz | at the door |
| Cold water (stands in for the shaker’s melt) | 140 ml 4.5 fl oz | in the jug |
| The jug holds 1 L (4 cups), which is 1 1.5-litre jug filled to 85%. Added per glass at the door: 850 ml in all. | ||
Make it
In the jug, then at the door
Ahead. Gin, lemon and syrup go in the jug together: 60 ml of base per glass. Squeeze the lemons the same day, ideally a few hours ahead. Chill the jug hard; it is not shaken later, so it has to be cold from the fridge.
At the door. 60 ml of the base into a flute, then 60 ml of champagne poured slowly. Stir once with the handle of a spoon. Twist the lemon peel over the glass and drop it in.
Keeps. The base keeps two days in the fridge, but the lemon is at its best on the day it was squeezed. Open sparkling wine as you go.
- Make the sugar syrup: equal weights of sugar and hot water, stirred until clear, then cooled. It keeps for weeks.
- Squeeze the lemons the same day, ideally four to ten hours before the party, and strain out the pulp.
- Mix gin, lemon and syrup in a jug with 10 ml of cold water per glass, because the batch will not be shaken and shaking would have added that water. Refrigerate for at least two hours.
- Chill the flutes if you can; a cold glass keeps the fizz longer.
- At the door: base, champagne, twist. Do not shake, do not add ice.
The alcohol-free twin
French 75, alcohol-free
Ritual Zero Proof publishes a version with its gin alternative, lemon, syrup and an alcohol-free sparkling wine. We keep the IBA proportions and use whichever gin alternative you can find; Seedlip Grove or Lyre's Dry London both work, and if you have none, lemon and syrup topped with alcohol-free sparkling wine is a fine drink on its own.
Batch the first three in a jug exactly like the original, cold. 60 ml into a flute, top with alcohol-free sparkling wine, lemon twist.
Reference: ritualzeroproof.com
| Ingredient | Per glass | When |
|---|---|---|
| Gin alternative (alcohol-free) | 30 ml (1 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Fresh lemon juice | 15 ml (0.5 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Sugar syrup (1:1) | 15 ml (0.5 fl oz) | in the jug |
| Alcohol-free sparkling wine | 60 ml (2 fl oz) | at the door |
Why it works at the door
French 75, in three paragraphs
A French 75 is a sour that put a dress on. Gin, lemon and sugar are the same bones as a whisky sour; the champagne on top turns it into something you hand people at a wedding. It is drier than most sparkling welcome drinks, which is why it works before a long dinner: it sharpens the appetite instead of coating it.
It is also the drink that shows why batching is a skill rather than a shortcut. Made one at a time, the base is shaken with ice, which chills it and adds about a fifth of its volume in water. A jug that sits in the fridge never gets that water, so we add it deliberately: 10 ml per glass, a rule most bartenders who batch for events follow in some form. Skip it and the first sip is harsher than the drink should be.
Punch, the drinks magazine, publishes a French 75 punch for twelve to fourteen that mixes everything, champagne included, in a bowl. It is a legitimate way to do it for a small dinner. For a crowd we keep the fizz separate, because a topped-up bowl is flat by the time the last guest arrives.
Questions hosts ask
Do I have to use real champagne?
No. The IBA spec says champagne, but any dry sparkling wine works: cava, crémant or a brut prosecco. Pick something labelled brut, because the syrup already brings the sweetness.
Why add water to the batch?
Shaking a single French 75 melts ice into it, roughly 20 to 25% of its volume by most bartenders' estimates. A jug from the fridge is never shaken, so 10 ml of water per glass puts that dilution back.
How far ahead can I squeeze the lemons?
The same day. Lime and lemon juice actually taste rounder a few hours after squeezing, and start to turn bitter after about ten hours, so mid-afternoon for an evening party is ideal.
Next to it on the tray