French 75 Cocktail

French 75 Cocktail Story

Anecdotal history often recounts that the French 75 was named after the 75-millimeter cannon used by the French artillery in the First World War, yet that credit belongs to a boozy calvados and gin cocktail that was listed as a 75 in Harry McElhone’s 1922 publication ABC’s of Mixing Cocktails. McElhone credited that version to the Buck’s Club in London. The French 75, as we know it now, appeared in Judge Jr.‘s Here’s How in 1927, its recipe more resembling typical Champagne and gin concoctions of the 1800s than the makeup of the 75. It was a celebratory drink, after all, so the Champagne version stuck. It became a wildly popular drink in post-War Europe and, subsequently, in post-Prohibition America, after it appeared in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book. British and French victors alike sometimes prepared the drink with Cognac instead of gin. It was this version that became the namesake cocktail of the Arnaud’s French 75 Bar in New Orleans.