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A Nerd Cooks » Cocktails

French 76

Oct 21, 2022 by Lauren Pacek · This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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The French 76 is a fun riff on the classic French 75 cocktail. Swap vodka for gin, and you're in (delicious) business!

Though these cocktails certainly look elegant (and they are!), they're very easy to make. If you can pour some liquid into a champagne flute and pop the cork on a bottle of bubbly, you can totally make your own at home.

They're really nice for toasting during a celebratory achievement or on New Year's Eve, as well as for sipping at an elegant dinner party. Or heck, make one any old time that you want to feel fancy!

Looking for more bubbly cocktails? Try my French 77 or Hugo Spritz!

two stemless champagne flutes on a gold serving tray, full of french 76 cocktails, one with a cherry at the bottom of the flute
Jump to:
  • 🌟 Why You'll Love This Recipe
  • 💭 What is a French 76?
  • 📝 Ingredients
  • 👩🏻‍🍳 How do you make a French 76?
  • 🔗 Other drinks made with bubbly
  • ❓ FAQs/Tips and tricks
  • 🖤 Share your creations and follow me on social media!
  • ✨ Recipe
  • 📌 Pin this recipe for later!

🌟 Why You'll Love This Recipe

  • It's easy to make. All you need to do is shake up a few ingredients, pour them into a champagne flute, and top them off with some bubbly!
  • It's effortlessly elegant. This goes back to how easy it is to make. It's super simple, but they payoff in terms of flavor and appearance is huge.
  • It's perfect for toasting. Cheers!

💭 What is a French 76?

The French 76 is a riff on the classic French 75 cocktail. The French 76 is made up of vodka, lemon juice, simple syrup, and of course, bubbles. We'll walk through each of the ingredients in more detail below.

This cocktail is typically served in a champagne flute (stemless or otherwise) and garnished with a maraschino cherry.

French 76 vs. French 75

I said that the French 76 is a riff on the French 75. But, what is a French 75? Well, the French 75 is made with gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and bubbly. Whereas the French 76 substitutes vodka for the gin.

French 76 vs. French 77

If the French 76 is made with vodka, lemon juice, simple syrup, and bubbly... the French 77 is made with elderflower liqueur, lemon juice, and bubbly.

So, as you can see, the French 75, 76, and 77 are all related drinks. Think of them as being cousins.

📝 Ingredients

  • Vodka: Use an unflavored vodka to make a classic French 76.
  • Lemon juice: Freshly squeezed, please!
  • Simple syrup: This drink requires the use of a rich simple syrup. You'll make it just like you would a normal simple syrup that requires equal parts sugar and water, but you'll use two parts sugar to one part water, instead. This is what's known as a rich simple syrup.
  • Bubbly: Use whatever bubbly you like! If you want to spend the money on champagne, do it. I prefer prosecco.
  • Garnish: Drop a single maraschino cherry into the bottom of each champagne flute, if desired. Remove the stem first.

👩🏻‍🍳 How do you make a French 76?

Even though these drinks look quite elegant (and they are, really), they're very easy to make.

You'll start by adding the vodka, lemon juice, and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until very cold before straining the contents into the bottom of your champagne flute.

two stemless champagne flutes on a gold serving tray

Top all of that off with some chilled bubbly! Watch out for the fizz. If you aren't careful, the bubbly can fizz up quite a bit and overflow.

two stemless champagne flutes on a gold serving tray, prosecco being poured into one

After that, drop a single maraschino cherry into each of the champagne flutes.

two stemless champagne flutes on a gold serving tray, full of french 76 cocktail, with a hand dropping a cherry into one of the flutes

🔗 Other drinks made with bubbly

Need more bubbly cocktails? Check out the links below. Some are from this blog, some are from other fabulous bloggers.

  • two stemless champagne flutes filled with watermelon mimosas
    Watermelon Mimosa
  • two large wine glasses filled with Hugo spritz cocktails
    Hugo Spritz
  • two grinch mimosas in stemless champagne flutes
    Grinch Mimosa
  • two champagne flutes of french 77
    French 77
  • Limoncello Spritz from A Nerd Cooks
  • Elderflower Thyme 75 from The Gourmet Bon Vivant
  • Rossini Cocktail (Strawberry Bellinis) from A Nerd Cooks
  • Grapefruit Mimosas from Jaylynn Little
  • Poinsettia Cocktails (Cranberry Mimosas) from A Nerd Cooks
  • Aperol Spritz from High Proof Preacher

❓ FAQs/Tips and tricks

Can I make more than one of these drinks at a time?

Yes! You can shake up a few of these at a time. Just scale up the vodka, lemon juice, and simple syrup according to the number of drinks that you want to make, add it to your cocktail shaker, shake with ice, and pour it out into your champagne flutes. Then top the glasses off with champagne, prosecco, cava, etc.

What is the difference between a French 76 and a French 75?

The former users vodka, the latter uses gin.

What is the difference between a French 76 and a French 77?

The former is made with vodka, lemon juice, simple syrup, and bubbly. The latter is made with elderflower liqueur, lemon juice, and bubbly.

What vodka should I use?

In short: whatever vodka you like to drink. I'd recommend something decent to good, though. No need to buy super top shelf vodka, but also please don't use well vodka, either.

two stemless champagne flutes on a gold serving tray, full of french 76 cocktail, with a hand holding a cherry over one flute

🖤 Share your creations and follow me on social media!

✨ Recipe

two stemless champagne flutes on a gold serving tray, full of french 76 cocktails, one with a cherry at the bottom of the flute

French 76

Lauren Pacek
The French 76 is a fun riff on the classic French 75 cocktail. Swap vodka for gin, and you're in (delicious) business!
5 from 3 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 2 minutes mins
Cook Time 0 minutes mins
Additional Time 0 minutes mins
Total Time 2 minutes mins
Course Cocktails
Cuisine American
Servings 1
Calories 417 kcal

Equipment

  • Cocktail jigger
  • Boston shaker
  • Hawthorne strainer
  • Champagne flutes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 ounce vodka
  • ½ ounce lemon juice
  • ¼ ounce rich simple syrup see notes
  • 4 ounces champagne prosecco, or cava
  • maraschino cherry for garnish (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Pour the vodka, lemon juice, and simple syrup into a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake until very cold.
  • Strain into a champagne flute and top with champagne, prosecco, or cava.
  • Drop a maraschino cherry into the bottom of each flute, if desired.

Notes

  • Rich simple syrup is made just like regular simple syrup, but you use 2 parts sugar to 1 part water.
  • Use whatever bubbly you prefer

Nutrition

Serving: 1Calories: 417kcalCarbohydrates: 15gSodium: 25mgSugar: 7g

Disclaimer: Nutritional information is a generated estimate and is not guaranteed to be accurate.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

📌 Pin this recipe for later!

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Hi, I'm Lauren! I'm the recipe developer, photographer, and writer here at A Nerd Cooks. I'm a 30-something wife, mom, and scientist with a passion for mixing cocktails, brewing buzzy coffee drinks, and making other delicious beverages at home.

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