French 75 Punch

Gin, lemon, sugar, and Champagne in a batch — named for the Canon de 75 (28 rounds/min), Vermeire documenting in 1922, Craddock in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book.

The French 75 punch scales the most celebratory of classic cocktails into a format built for sharing. The original cocktail's name honors the Canon de 75 modèle 1897, the French light field gun that became one of the defining weapons of World War I for its rapid fire rate of up to 28 rounds per minute and its pivotal role in halting the German advance on Paris in 1914. The drink's first documented attribution goes to Henry Tépé of Henry's Bar on Rue Volney in Paris via Robert Vermeire's 1922 cocktail guide, though Harry MacElhone's nearby operation attracted much of the credit through the following decades. The modern formula of gin, lemon, sugar, and champagne was standardized in print by 1927 and defined by Harry Craddock in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book. Its structure — the sour trio of spirit, citrus, and sweetener lifted and extended by sparkling wine — is almost perfectly designed for large-format punches, which have their own distinct history in Anglo-American drinking culture stretching back to at least the 17th century. Where the individual French 75 is a flute cocktail built for elegance and ceremony, the punch bowl version creates the same effervescent celebration at a scale suited to dinner parties, garden receptions, and any gathering where a single glass is not enough.