This French 95 cocktail (also known as a French 75 with bourbon) is an easy, 4-ingredient drink that's perfect for entertaining guests. These beautiful cocktails are easy to make, sophisticated, and delicious!
This French 95 is similar to the more famous French 75 or French 77, except it uses bourbon in place of gin or elderflower liqueur. Besides the bourbon, there are only 3 other ingredients: champagne, lemon juice, and simple syrup.
Every ingredient brings something unique to the table: champagne provides fizz and a hint of sweetness, lemon juice adds tartness, bourbon adds a rich and nutty punch, and simple syrup balances the cocktail out. This is a cocktail that's appropriate for celebrations, special occasions, or weeknight sipping.
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Why We Love This Recipe
- Quick and easy: This French 95 only requires 4 simple ingredients and comes together in under 5 minutes. It's super easy to make, looks impressive, and is great for serving a big group of friends or family.
- Well-balanced: This cocktail is sweet, sour, and smoky all at once, with a great dose of carbonation.
- Simple, yet sophisticated: This is cocktail that you can whip together quickly, but it still makes a huge impression thanks to the sophisticated flavor it gets from champagne and bourbon. It would be perfect for the holidays (New Year's Eve, specifically!).
Ingredients
Here's everything you'll need to make this French 95:
Ingredient Notes
- Lemon juice: Freshly squeezed is always best, especially since this cocktail only uses a few ingredients, so each component will shine through.
- 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).
- Bourbon: Make sure to use a high quality bourbon. If it doesn't taste good by itself, it won't taste good in this cocktail! You can also use whiskey if preferred.
- Simple syrup: This is just a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water. You can make your own by adding sugar and water to a saucepan, and heating until the sugar is completely dissolved. You can also use store-bought.
How to Make a French 95
(1) Add the bourbon, lemon juice, and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker half filled with ice.
(2) Shake to combine, then pour into a glass.
(3) Top with champagne, and garnish with a lemon peel.
Make it For a Crowd
To make this cocktail for a crowd:
- Multiply the quantities stated below by four or five (or more depending on the size of your crowd), and pour the lemon juice, simple syrup, and bourbon into a pitcher. You can stash the pitcher in the fridge until it's time to serve.
- When your guests are ready to drink, stir well, pour the mixture into each glass, then top with champagne and garnish.
How to Serve
We enjoy serving our French 95 in a champagne coupe, martini glass, or even a champagne flute. For garnish, you can make your own lemon tuile or twist, or just add a lemon slice to the rim of each glass.
It's also perfectly fine to serve without a garnish!
Tips and FAQs
- Garnish: Since these cocktails are simple and classic, we love adding a garnish to give them a little something special. Garnishing with a simple lemon twist is our favorite - sophisticated and easy to make!
- Everything tastes best chilled: For the most refreshing cocktail, chill all of the components of this French 95 for several hours before assembling. Since there are only 4 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. Also, stirring after adding champagne can remove some of the carbonation from your cocktail. If you want to keep it fizzy, don't stir it!
Of course, it's all up to you! If you use whiskey instead of bourbon, your cocktail will be a little less sweet and a little less smooth, since bourbon is typically sweeter than whiskey.
All of these cocktails have lemon juice, simple syrup and champagne, but the primary alcohol varies by cocktail. The French 75 uses gin, the 76 uses vodka, the 77 uses elderflower liqueur, and the 95 uses bourbon or whiskey.
Homemade simple syrup couldn't be easier to make. Simply combine equal parts water and sugar (we suggest ½ cup of each) in a small saucepan. Heat over medium low and stir until sugar is completely dissolved.
Let it cool completely before adding to your cocktail. You can store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a few months.
For extra flavor in this French 95, you can infuse your simple syrup with half of a lemon. Add it to the saucepan with the sugar and water and let it infuse for at least an hour before straining.
More Cocktail Recipes to Enjoy
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📖 Recipe
French 95
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2 cocktails
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This French 95 cocktail (also known as a French 75 with bourbon) is an easy, 4-ingredient drink that's perfect for entertaining guests. These beautiful cocktails are easy to make, sophisticated, and delicious!
Ingredients
- 2 ounces bourbon or whiskey
- 1 ½ ounces freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 ½ ounces simple syrup
- 6 ounces chilled dry champagne or sparkling wine
- Lemon peel for garnish (optional)
Instructions
-
Add the bourbon, lemon juice, and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker half filled with ice.
-
Shake to combine, then pour into a glass.
-
Top with champagne, and garnish with a lemon peel.
Notes
Makes 2 cocktails.
Everything tastes best chilled: For the most refreshing cocktail, chill all of the components of this French 95 for several hours before assembling. Since there are only 4 ingredients in this cocktail, having chilled ingredients makes a big difference. You can even chill the glasses if you'd like!
Simple syrup: You can use store-bought or make your own (it's super easy!). Here's how to make it: Simply combine equal parts water and sugar (we suggest ½ cup of each) in a small saucepan. Heat over medium low and stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Let it cool completely before adding to your cocktail. You can store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a few months.
Serving suggestion: We enjoy serving our French 95 in a champagne coupe, martini glass, or even a champagne flute. For garnish, you can make your own lemon tuile or twist, or just add a lemon slice to the rim of each glass.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Cocktails
- Method: Shaker
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 186
- Sugar: 11.9 g
- Sodium: 4.6 mg
- Fat: 0.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Fiber: 0.1 g
- Protein: 0.1 g
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