French 76
ClassicThe French 75 with vodka in the driver's seat — crisp, clean, and celebratory.
Crisp and clean. Without gin's botanicals, the drink is all bright lemon and dry champagne, with just enough simple syrup to round the edges. Light, sparkling, and easy to drink by the flute — a toast in a glass.
Ingredients
- 1 oz Vodka
- 0.5 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
- 0.5 oz Simple Syrup
- Champagne to top
- Lemon twist · optional garnish
Method
- 1
Shake the vodka, lemon, and simple syrup with ice until chilled.
- 2
Strain into a chilled flute.
- 3
Top with champagne.
- 4
Garnish with a lemon twist.
The Story
The French 76 is the vodka-based cousin of the French 75, that champagne-and-citrus classic named for a French field gun. Where the original uses gin, the 76 swaps in vodka for a cleaner, more neutral lift — a mid-century move that made the drink friendlier to vodka's postwar boom. It's the same celebratory formula, dialed toward crispness over botanicals.
Recipe card
The whole recipe in one shareable image.
