French 75 with a dried lemon wheel.
The French 75 is a drink that takes itself a little seriously, and rightly so. Gin and lemon shaken cold, then lengthened with something sparkling until it goes from cocktail to occasion. Named after a field gun, served in a flute, and gone in about four sips.
A fresh lemon twist is the usual finish, and within a minute it's a tired curl of peel sliding down the glass. A dried lemon wheel sits where the bubbles rise, holds its edge, and keeps the drink looking deliberate right to the bottom.
What you'll need
- 30ml London dry gin
- 15ml fresh lemon juice
- 10ml sugar syrup (1:1 sugar to water)
- 60ml Champagne or dry sparkling, to top
- 1 dried lemon wheel
How to make it
- In a shaker, combine the gin, lemon juice, and sugar syrup. Fill with ice.
- Shake hard for 8 seconds. You want it properly cold before the wine goes anywhere near it.
- Strain into a chilled flute or a coupe. No ice in the glass; this one drinks cold and short.
- Top slowly with Champagne, poured down the inside of the glass so the bubbles last.
- Drop a dried lemon wheel in to finish. It'll settle near the top and stay there.
Why dried beats fresh here
A fresh lemon twist gives you one quick burst of oil and then nothing, and a fresh wheel is too heavy and wet for a drink this delicate. A dried lemon wheel is light enough to ride the bubbles, carries its citrus oil in the rind, and never leaks juice into wine that you paid good money for.
Make a row of these for a table and the dried wheel earns its keep. Build the flutes, top them in front of guests, and finish each with a single wheel. No knife, no curls of peel, no fuss.
Use the Lemon jar, about 25 wheels, enough to see a long table through a celebration.