This French 77 is an elegant and refreshing cocktail, with lemon, elderflower liqueur and champagne. It's perfect for your New Year's Eve celebration, or really any special occasion! You only need 3 ingredients and 5 minutes to make a batch.
A French 77 is a variation on a more familiar cocktail – the French 75. The traditional version is made with lemon juice, gin, champagne and sugar. This version calls for the addition of elderflower liqueur, which gives it a subtle floral taste that's absolutely delicious.
This is the ideal recipe for New Year's Eve, so for a bit of extra fun, we added some (edible) gold shimmer dust. It's totally optional, but a great way to ring in the new year.
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Why We Love This Recipe
- Quick and easy: This French 77 only requires 3 simple ingredients and comes together in under 5 minutes. It's super easy to make, which comes in handy when you're serving a big group of friends or family.
- Refreshing: This French 77 has a lovely tartness from the lemon juice that works perfectly as a palette cleanser. It's a little herbal from the elderflower liqueur, and is perfectly balanced!
- Perfect for winter holidays: these cocktails are perfect for New Year's Eve or dinner parties. With optional edible glitter and pretty glassware, they're so chic!
Ingredients
Here's what you'll need to make this French 77:
Ingredient Notes
- Elderflower Liqueur: Any type of elderflower liqueur, like St. Germain, works in this cocktail. If you've never had elderflower liqueur, it's a French liqueur with a fruity, floral flavor profile.
- Lemon juice: Freshly squeezed is always best, especially since it's one of the main components of this recipe.
- Sparkling wine: For this recipe, we're using Champagne, but any sparkling wine will work just fine, including Cava or Prosecco. We prefer a good quality sparkling wine here since there are so few ingredients. Whichever wine you choose, make sure it's brut (dry).
- Edible glitter: you can order this online or find it in many craft stores. Of course it's totally optional, but the stunning shimmery effect is SO worth it for a special occasion! We get ours from Fancy Sprinkles (we used the gold prism powder in the cocktail.)
Instructions
(1) Add elderflower liqueur and lemon juice to a cocktail shaker half filled with ice. Shake well for 10 seconds.
(2) Divide the mixture evenly between 4 champagne flutes or coupe glasses. Top off with ~4 ounces of champagne per glass.
If adding shimmer dust, add 1/16 teaspoon to each cocktail.
Tips and FAQs
- Garnish: Although totally optional, adding a garnish gives these cocktails a little something special. We like to garnish with a simple lemon peel – sophisticated and easy to make!
- Everything tastes best chilled: For the most refreshing cocktail, chill all of the components of this French 77 for several hours before assembling. Since there are only 3 ingredients in this cocktail, having chilled ingredients makes a big difference. You can even chill the glasses if you'd like!
- No need to stir: Whether you're making these in individual glasses or in a pitcher, don't stir the sparkling wine together with the rest of the ingredients. Simply pouring it in will mix everything sufficiently.
Sparkling wine can only be called champagne if it comes from a specific region in France (not surprisingly called Champagne!). In other words, all champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is champagne. It all has to do with where the wine is produced!
So, if you're not sure whether to use sparkling wine, or true champagne in these French 77 cocktails, rest assured that either is perfectly fine!
1. Slice a ¼-inch thick round from a lemon. Cut a slit on one side of the lemon round.
2. Use a small paring knife to carefully slice around the fruit to separate the peel from the pith and fruit. It's okay if there is a little pith – you need some to make sure the lemon peel keeps its shape.
3. Trim any thick parts of the peel. Twist the peel into a curl and hold it for several seconds until it holds its shape.
More Cocktail Recipes to Enjoy
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📖 Recipe
French 77
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 cocktails
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This French 77 is an elegant and refreshing cocktail, with lemon, elderflower liqueur and champagne. It's perfect for your New Year's Eve celebration, or really any special occasion! You only need 3 ingredients and 5 minutes to make a batch.
Ingredients
- 4 ounces elderflower liqueur (St. Germain)
- 4 ounces freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 16 ounces chilled, dry sparkling wine (Champagne, Prosecco, Cava, etc)
Instructions
- Add elderflower liqueur and lemon juice to a cocktail shaker half filled with ice. Shake well for 10 seconds.
- Divide the mixture evenly between 4 champagne flutes or coupe glasses. Top off with ~4 ounces of champagne per glass.
- If adding shimmer dust, add 1/16 teaspoon to each cocktail.
Notes
Everything tastes best chilled: For the most refreshing cocktail, chill all of the components of this French 77 for several hours before assembling. Since there are only 3 ingredients in this cocktail, having chilled ingredients makes a big difference. You can even chill the glasses if you'd like!
No need to stir: Whether you're making these in individual glasses or in a pitcher, don't stir the sparkling wine together with the rest of the ingredients. Simply pouring it in will mix everything sufficiently.
Sparkling wine: For this recipe, we're using Champagne, but any sparkling wine will work just fine, including Cava or Prosecco. We prefer a good quality sparkling wine here since there are so few ingredients. Whichever wine you choose, make sure it's brut (dry).
Edible glitter: you can order this online or find it in many craft stores. Of course it's totally optional, but the stunning shimmery effect is SO worth it for a special occasion! We used this.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Cocktails
- Method: Shaker
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 214
- Sugar: 14.4 g
- Sodium: 7.7 mg
- Fat: 0.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 17.7 g
- Fiber: 0.1 g
- Protein: 0.2 g
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