Inverted French ‘75
Happy National Cocktail Day! I figured it was prudent to post a drink, of all days, even though that’s pretty much business as usual around here. Today I have another “class switch” if you will— reimagining a classic cocktail in a different style.
A French ‘75 is comprised of gin, lemon, sugar, and sparkling wine. It’s technically in the Tom Collins family (though often served without ice). By converting the sparkling wine into a syrup and changing the quantities, we can convert it into a more traditional gin sour. The final touch was to split the gin base with a little bit of grappa, which helps to emphasize the grape-ness that is key in the original and otherwise gets dampened a bit in the rebuild. If you make some champagne syrup, be sure to give this one a try!
Note: there are a lot of champagne syrups out there and it highly depends on the sweetness of the wine and personal sweetness preferences (unless you are measuring brix, which most if us aren’t at home). I used 1 cup (~250g) of wine, 150g white sugar, and reduced it all by about half on the stovetop. It’s not super sweet but tasty and has a nice consistency.
Recipe
1.5oz London dry gin
0.5oz unaged grappa
~0.75oz champagne syrup
0.75oz lemon juice
Shake, strain, garnish with lemon peel. Cheers!!
