Bitter French – A twist on the French 75 Gin & Champagne classic cocktail with Campari

Bitter French

One of many very tasty Phil Ward recipes I found in the first Death & Co book a few years back. Despite the name this one is very approachable, both complex and a crowd pleaser.

The original recipe calls for Plymouth Gin, but I’ve found different gins to work great here depending on your tastes.

The original recipie calls for no garnish and the grapefruit twist to be discarded after its oils are expressed. But this is Instagram and I like overusing garnishes.

I’ve made this a couple of times with a touch extra Campari and slightly less sugar syrup for all the bittersweet goodness.

This calls for champagne but if you use another traditional method sparkling wine like Crèmant or Cava I won’t tell anyone. Would you have to call it a bitter Spanish if you used Cava? 🤔

30ml Gin
7.5ml Campari
15ml Simple syrup
15ml Lemon juice
Top Champagne
Grapefruit twist oils (discard twist for tradition, add twist if you live life on the edge like me)

One of many very tasty Phil Ward recipes I found in the first Death & Co book a few years back. The original recipe calls for Plymouth Gin, but I’ve found different gins to work great here depending on your tastes.

The original recipe calls for no garnish and the grapefruit twist to be discarded after its oils are expressed. But I like overusing garnishes.

30ml Gin
7.5ml Campari
15ml Simple syrup
15ml Lemon juice
Top Champagne
Grapefruit twist oils (discard twist for tradition, add twist if you live life on the edge like me)

This is a bitter French a French 75 twist with the addition of a little bit of Campari the only thing I’m bitter about is only discovering this one a few years ago although the fact we both know about it now is caused for even more celebration this time of year