French 75 Cocktail Recipe for a New Year’s Eve Toast

A French 75 cocktail turns a simple midnight toast into the one drink everyone photographs before they drink it.

Gin, lemon and sparkling wine do the heavy lifting in under five minutes, with a cherry pour for color and a zero proof version made with sparkling cider for anyone sitting this one out. Keep that quiet pitcher going all night and nobody has to ask twice.

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Why This Drink Belongs on the Table

You might think a cocktail this dressed up needs a bartender’s kit. It does not: a jar with a tight lid works as well as a weighted shaker, and the whole drink comes together in the time it takes to find the good glasses.

Picture the toast lined up on the counter just as the countdown games to build up to midnight wrap up, bubbles already climbing before anyone finishes saying happy new year. That is the whole point of a French 75 cocktail at a party: it looks like more trouble than it is.

Gin keeps it crisp and modern, a cognac swap leans warmer and more old Paris, and the cherry version turns one coupe into something a little more playful for the guest who wants color in her glass.

There is also the quiet version for whoever is driving home or skipping gin this year. Swap in sparkling apple cider and nobody at the table has to explain why their glass looks different from everyone else’s.

The Ingredients That Make It Work

Gin sets the backbone. Choose a dry, classic style rather than a heavily flavored one, because the lemon and sugar are already doing the bright work, and a floral or fruit-forward gin will fight them instead of joining in.

Fresh lemon juice is not optional here. Bottled juice tastes flat and faintly metallic next to sparkling wine, while one good lemon, squeezed just before you shake, gives the whole drink its lift.

Simple syrup dissolves instantly where sugar on its own would sit grainy at the bottom of a cold glass. Keep it light-handed: too much, and the sparkling wine goes quiet under the sweetness.

A dry sparkling wine, something labeled brut, finishes the glass and carries the perfume up to your nose on every sip. Save a real vintage champagne for drinking on its own and let a solid cava or crémant do the topping here.

A curl of lemon peel, twisted right over the glass, perfumes the top of the drink before it ever reaches your mouth. A brandied cherry at the bottom does the same job in a sweeter language, and sparkling apple cider stands in for both the gin and the wine in the zero proof pour.

How to Make It

This recipe makes two cocktails, the right size for a toast between two people or the first round of a bigger batch doubled straight through.

Every step happens in the five minutes before you actually want to drink it, since sparkling wine does not wait around once it is poured.

Build the base in the shaker

Pour the gin, lemon juice and simple syrup over ice right in the shaker. The mixture should look pale and slightly cloudy from the citrus, with ice cubes floating near the top.

Strain the base into chilled coupes

Strain the shaken mixture evenly between two coupes set on the counter. The liquid should look pale gold and completely smooth, with no ice chips floating on top.

Top slowly with sparkling wine

Pour the chilled sparkling wine down the inside edge of each coupe until nearly full. A fine ribbon of bubbles should rise steadily from the bottom without flooding over the rim.

Serve the French 75 right away

Finish each glass with a curl of lemon peel resting on the foam. Serve both coupes immediately on the counter while the bubbles are still actively rising.

Tips for Getting It Right

The most common mistake is reaching for bottled lemon juice because it looks like it will save a step. It will not: bottled juice tastes flat next to sparkling wine, and the drink loses the brightness that makes it worth making in the first place.

A warm glass is the second mistake. Pour a cold shaken base into a coupe that has been sitting on the counter and it loses its chill in under a minute, so give the glasses ten minutes in the freezer before you start.

Heavy-handed syrup flattens the finish. Sparkling wine already carries its own sweetness, so measure the syrup rather than eyeballing it, and taste the shaken base before you top it if you are unsure.

Pouring the sparkling wine too fast ends in a sticky counter. Tip the glass slightly and pour down the inside edge, the same way you would pour soda over ice, and the foam stays exactly where it belongs.

Swaps and Substitutions

Cognac stands in for the gin, ounce for ounce, if you want the version some New Orleans bars serve instead of the original. It runs warmer and a touch sweeter, better suited to a drink sipped after dinner than one poured before it.

Cava or crémant can replace the sparkling wine without anyone noticing once lemon and gin are involved, and both cost less than champagne. Save a real champagne for a glass on its own, where you can actually taste it.

For the cherry version, drop a brandied or maraschino cherry into the glass before the sparkling wine goes in and let it sink. It softens the citrus edge and gives the drink a slightly different finish without changing anything else about the method.

For a zero proof pour, skip the gin, lemon and syrup entirely and fill the glass with chilled sparkling apple cider instead. This one is for the adults otherwise, so keep the cider version going all night for anyone driving, pregnant, or simply not drinking.

What to Serve It With at a Party

Salty snacks do more work here than sweet ones. Potato chips, good olives or a wedge of hard cheese all meet the citrus and gin halfway, instead of competing with the sugar already in the glass.

If half your guests want something lighter instead, keep a spritz bar idea for a lighter New Year’s Eve toast going at the other end of the counter.

Oysters or smoked salmon on a board lean into the drink’s history without any extra effort, since both were already the standard pairing for champagne cocktails long before anyone added gin to the mix.

Once midnight actually happens, nobody wants to measure syrup anymore, so this is also the moment to switch to something that keeps hands busy instead. New Year’s Eve drinking games for a grown-up countdown fill that gap neatly, using whatever bottle is already open on the counter.

French 75 Cocktail

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Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 3 ounces gin a dry, London-style gin works well
• 1 ounce fresh lemon juice about 1 large lemon
• 1 ounce simple syrup
• ice for the shaker and the glasses
• 4 ounces chilled dry sparkling wine champagne, cava or crémant, about 2 ounces per glass
• 2 strips lemon peel for the twist
• 2 brandied cherries for the cherry version (optional)

Instructions

• Set two coupe glasses in the freezer for at least 10 minutes, until they feel cold to the touch.
• Fill a clear glass cocktail shaker about halfway with ice, then pour in 3 ounces gin, 1 ounce fresh lemon juice and 1 ounce simple syrup.
• Seal the shaker tight and shake hard for 15 seconds, until the outside turns frost cold in your hand.
• Strain the shaken mixture evenly between the two chilled coupes, filling each glass about halfway.
• Drop a brandied cherry into each glass now if you are making the cherry version, skip this step for the classic pour.
• Top each coupe slowly with chilled sparkling wine, about 2 ounces per glass, pouring down the inside edge so the foam does not climb over the rim.
• Twist a strip of lemon peel over each glass to release its oil, run it around the rim, then drop it in.
• Serve the French 75 right away, while the bubbles are still rising through the glass.

Good to Know

Pour the sparkling wine last and slowly, the shaken base holds its chill and fizz far better than if you build the drink in reverse.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it called a French 75?

The French 75 cocktail is named after a French 75mm field gun from World War I. Bartenders said the drink packed the same kick as being shelled by that artillery piece.

Is a French 75 made with gin or cognac?

Gin is the traditional base in the standard recipe. A cognac version became popular later and remains a well-known New Orleans variation, though it is not the original.

What is the difference between a French 75 and a Tom Collins?

A French 75 swaps in sparkling wine where a Tom Collins uses soda water, while keeping the same gin, lemon and sugar base, which gives the French 75 a drier, more fragrant finish.

How strong is a French 75 cocktail?

A French 75 is stronger than it tastes, since a full pour of gin plus several ounces of sparkling wine puts it well above the strength of a glass of wine on its own.

What glass should you serve a French 75 in?

Either a coupe or a champagne flute works; the flute is now more common because its narrow shape keeps the fizz active longer, while a coupe shows off the lemon twist better.