Learn how to make a classic French 77 Cocktail featuring Elderflower and Prosecco.
Our quick & easy French 77 recipe is an elegant craft cocktail featuring sparkling wine, St Germain Elderflower Liqueur, and fresh lemon juice.
This simple festive elderflower flavoured Prosecco cocktail is the perfect sip to serve in a champagne flute at special occasions like Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Christmas or New Years.
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What Is A French 77 Cocktail?
The French 77 cocktail is a sparkling wine drink that offers a spin on the classic French 75, adding St Germain elderflower liqueur.
It’s bubbly and effervescent, with sweet floral undertones and the sublime acidity of fresh lemon juice. If you’re looking for a craft cocktail to impress friends and family who have a penchant for petillance, this French 77 recipe is going to be a new favourite.
So what are the origins of the French 77?
It’s a spin on the classic French 75 cocktail using elderflower liqueur, created by Simon Difford in 2006. Most mixology historians believe the original French 75 was invented in 1915 at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris, earning its name because it was as powerful as a French 75mm field gun.
A traditional French 75 is prepared with gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and champagne.
Sparkling Wine Options
The traditional sparkling wine used in a French 77 is champagne from France.
Our French 77 recipe is very versatile. You can use any sparkling wine that fits your price point. We prefer Italian prosecco as it’s more affordable. We’ve also prepared the cocktail with local sparkling wines produced on vineyards in Beamsville, Niagara on the Lake, Prince Edward County, Vancouver Island and Osoyoos.
- Champagne: French sparkling wine. It tastes bubbly and fruity, with undertones of freshly baked bread.
- Prosecco: Italian sparkling wine. It’s a little sweeter than champagne: fruity and flowery, with notes of apple and pear.
- Cava: Spanish sparkling wine. It has more citrus notes and tends to be on the drier side.
What Is St Germain Liqueur?
The eye-popping bottle is a reflection of the fine artisanal French liqueur held within.
Made with fresh hand-picked elderflower blossoms, without the use of preservatives. The aromas are fruit driven with floral hints. On the palate expect tropical fruit, citrus, pear and a hint of honeysuckle sweetness.
French 77 Cocktail Recipe Ingredients
This homemade French 77 recipe is made with premium ingredients:
- St Germain Liqueur: this luxurious French liqueur is sweet and floral, prepared with elderflowers.
- Sparkling Wine: we suggest using a bottle on the drier side such as Champagne, Prosecco or Cava.
- Lemon Juice: freshly squeezed lemon juice adds a sublime acidity to the cocktail.
- Lemon Twist: garnish the champagne flute with a lemon twist before serving.
French 77 Elderflower Prosecco Recipe Tips
This festive French 77 recipe is easy to make at home, ready to serve in under 5 minutes.
Our French 77 cocktail serves one person. If you’re hosting a large gathering feel free to multiply the ingredients by the number of guests and muddle the drink in a festive punch bowl or jug rather than a cocktail shaker.
We’ve used Prosecco in this recipe but you can substitute with your favourite sparkling wine like Champagne or Cava.
Be sure to squeeze fresh lemons and never use concentrate. You can taste the quality difference!
An hour or two before you’re planning on serving this Elderflower Prosecco cocktail we suggest placing the sparkling wine and St Germain bottle in the freezer so they are well chilled.
Best Bartender Tools & Cocktail Equipment
Before hosting a swanky French 77 cocktail soiree you’ll need to ensure you have the best bartender tools and cocktail equipment.
- Cocktail Kit: cocktail kits are the perfect gift for newbie mixology fans as they include basic bartender tools like a jigger, shaker and spoon.
- Cocktail Shaker: a bartender’s best friend. Purchase a premium cocktail shaker to muddle or shake up your favourite pink gin cocktails.
- Cocktail Glassware: make sure your bar is stocked with a selection of unique glassware to show off your favourite cocktail creations.
- Hawthorne Strainer: this unique strainer features tightly wound coils and perforated holes. It keeps ice and other large ingredients like lime wedges in your cocktail shaker rather than in the glass.
- Bar Spoons: slender and long bar spoons are a must-have when stirring drinks.
- Bottle Opener: easily open bottles of beer or cider with the flick of your wrist or purchase a corkscrew for fine wine.
- Pouring Spout: once you’ve opened a new bottle of gin insert these affordable pourers to make cocktail assembly a breeze.
- Cutting Board: purchase a petite cutting board for your bar to slice garnishes or citrus wedges like lime, orange, lemon or grapefruit.
- Ice Bucket: chill bottles of gin quickly in an ice bucket or keep by the bar when muddling gin mixers into cool creations.
- Ice Crusher: fans of the Mint Julep love an ice crusher.
- Ice Cube Kit: we suggest purchasing a selection of ice cube trays. Silicone styles are our favourite as they’re easy to clean and are available in various shapes and sizes.
- Jigger: use a jigger to accurately measure spirits, juices, syrups and shrubs.
- Juicer: invest in an electronic juicer or buy an affordable hand-held to easily juice fresh citrus like lemons and limes.
- Muddler: fans of the Mojito love a sturdy muddler to mix mint and lime. Muddler’s are handy for any cocktail featuring ingredients that need a pounding like fresh herbs or citrus wedges.
- Citrus Peeler & Zester: adorn your craft cocktails with a thick citrus peel or finer ribbons of lime or lemon zest.
- Rimmer: Bloody Mary and Caesar lovers should outfit their bar with a handy rimmer for salting and sugaring glassware.
Best Selling Gin
Gin has certainly enjoyed a boom in popularity at cocktail bars in recent years. You’ll find fantastic premium gins distilled from Scotland to Muskoka. Here are some of the world’s best selling gins and some of our local small batch favourites:
- Gordon’s Gin: The world’s top selling gin brand is owned by Diageo. The brand’s pink iteration has undoubtedly helped to fuel its success. Gordon’s has also unveiled a line of new innovative products including two “ultra-low-alcohol” pre-mixed gin and tonic sparkling beverages and Gordon’s Gin-infused popsicles.
- Bombay Sapphire Gin: Bacardi-owned Bombay Sapphire is one of the worlds best-selling gins. Bombay Sapphire kicked off a new limited edition range with the launch of a gin inspired by summer in the English countryside.
- Tanqueray: Diageo-owned Tanqueray launched a new marketing campaign developed to shift consumers’ attention from “gimmicks” to flavour and unveiled a range of bottled ready-to-drink gin and tonics, made with its London Dry Gin and Flor de Sevilla Distilled Gin.
- Beefeater Gin: Pernod Ricard’s flagship gin brand is Beefeater. The brand launched strawberry-flavoured Beefeater Pink in 2018 and further expanded its portfolio with the debut of a new blood orange-flavoured gin.
- Seagram’s: Pernod Ricard-owned Seagram’s is a top seller having recently purchased Italian brand Malfy Gin.
- Hendrick’s Gin: Opened the door to its £13 million Gin Palace in 2018, allowing the brand to double its capacity to two million cases annually. The Scottish brand has also added to its portfolio with the launch of the limited edition summer solstice-inspired Midsummer Solstice gin.
- Edinburgh Gin: This craft distillery in Edinburgh produces a parade of flavoured gin bottles including rhubarb & ginger gin, raspberry gin, bramble & honey gin, black currant & anise, strawberry & pink peppercorn and pomegranate & rose.
- Dillon’s Distillery: This Beamsville producer makes small batch gins including rose gin, cherry gin and strawberry gin.
- Muskoka Brewery: This Ontario craft brewery produces a London Dry and spicy pink peppercorn gin.
You May Also Enjoy These Prosecco & Elderflower Cocktails…
- Liquore Strega Saffron Gin Cocktail
- Italian Prosecco and Gin Cocktail
- St Germain Elderflower Gin and Tonic Cocktail
- Elderflower Collins Cocktail
- Pretty Pink Gin Cocktails
How To Make A French 77 Cocktail Recipe
French 77 Cocktail
Equipment
- Champagne Flute
- Shot Glass
- Cocktail Shaker
Ingredients
- 1 oz Elderflower Liqueur
- 0.5 oz Lemon Juice
- 4 oz Sparkling Wine
- Lemon Twist garnish
Instructions
- Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
- Add elderflower liqueur and lemon juice and shake for 10-15 seconds.
- Strain into a champagne flute and top with sparkling wine.
- Garnish with lemon twist.
Nutrition
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