PARTY TRICK

This New Year’s Cocktail Recipe Is Bubbly, Bright and Even Batchable

A scintillating mix of gin, Champagne and a splash of lemon, the French 75 is the easy, elegant cocktail we’re toasting with this year.

I love that moment when I’m rushing to get ready for a celebration—New Year’s Eve, say—and I stop to mix myself a drink. Before the night begins I take a breath, and the edge off.

I’ll listen to “The Lark Ascending” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, created, like the French 75 cocktail, during World War I—two testaments to hope during tumultuous times.

Named after a lethal French artillery piece, the French 75 gets its ammunition from the gin.

Go ahead and pick up a handsome bottle you haven’t tried. As for the Champagne, use Extra Brut, a drier designation, because we’ll be adding simple syrup.

There are all sorts of swaps and substitutes out there, but this iteration of the cocktail is clean, dry and classic.

Some prefer Cognac to gin. The simple syrup can be reduced or even eliminated, but taste it the traditional way before tinkering.

French 75 Cocktail

Total Time: 5 minutes
Serves: 1

Ingredients

For the simple syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
For the cocktail:
1 ounce gin
½ ounce lemon juice
½ ounce simple syrup
3 ounces chilled Champagne,
Lemon twist, to garnish

1. Make the simple syrup: In a saucepan, combine sugar and water. Simmer over high heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Cool and bottle. Simple syrup will keep for about a month.

2. Make the cocktail: In a shaker, combine a large handful of ice, gin, lemon juice and simple syrup. Shake until icy, and strain into a chilled coupe or flute. Top with Champagne, and finish with lemon twist.

To batch this cocktail for a crowd, multiply and mix the gin, juice and simple syrup in a pitcher, and keep cool in the refrigerator.

When ready to serve, stir, pour approximately 2 ounces of the mix into individual glasses, top with Champagne, and finish with a lemon twist.

Pro Tip:

Pop your Champagne, gin, shaker and glassware in the freezer a half hour before mixing, so the drink is served ice-cold. And whether you go for slippers or sequins on New Year’s Eve, have a wonderful time.

Get the full recipe here.

Photographs by Graydon + Herriott for The Wall Street Journal
Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich
Prop Styling by Amy Wilson
Visuals Production by Emily Eisen
Digital Editing by Grace Rasmus