1925 | Paris, France This nickname for WWI-era French 75-caliber light artillery weapon served as a name for this neat cocktail with a smooth, direct line of fire to the head, just like its namesake cannon. The first drink by the name of the 75 Cocktail appeared in Harry MacElhone's "ABC Cocktails" (1923). It featured a combination of calvados, gin, anise tincture, and grenadine. Several years later, Frank Meier from Paris' Ritz Hotel cut the calvados and grenadine out of the recipe, adding gin and champagne instead. Finally, in 1930, Harry Craddock added the word "French" to the name and put its final version in his famous "Savoy Cocktail Book." Though the New Orleans restaurant Arnaud has a bar that proudly calls itself FRENCH 75, their signature cocktail is not mixed with gin, but with cognac. The explanation for this version is simple: Americans who fought in World War I as part of the legendary Lafayette Escadrille drank cognac to buffer their spirits. Moreover, New Orleans is...

1925 | Paris, France This nickname for WWI-era French 75-caliber light artillery weapon served as a name for this neat cocktail with a smooth, direct line of fire to the head, just like its namesake cannon. The first drink by the name of the 75 Cocktail appeared in Harry MacElhone's "ABC Cocktails" (1923). It featured a combination of calvados, gin, anise tincture, and grenadine. Several years later, Frank Meier from Paris' Ritz Hotel cut the calvados and grenadine out of the recipe, adding gin and champagne instead. Finally, in 1930, Harry Craddock added the word "French" to the name and put its final version in his famous "Savoy Cocktail Book." Though the New Orleans restaurant Arnaud has a bar that proudly calls itself FRENCH 75, their signature cocktail is not mixed with gin, but with cognac. The explanation for this version is simple: Americans who fought in World War I as part of the legendary Lafayette Escadrille drank cognac to buffer their spirits. Moreover, New Orleans is a very "French-ified" city. Americans, who had already taken a liking to a similar cocktail by the name of the "Tom Collins," received the version with gin and sparkling wine instead of club soda warmly. In this guise, the cocktail made it into New York's famous Stork Club, thereby entering the cocktail canon.