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5 Ingredients or Fewer

The Bitter Frenchman

by:
December 21, 2015
4
4 Ratings
Photo by fiveandspice
  • Serves 1
Author Notes

Adapted from the Death & Co. cocktail book to suit my tastes—i.e. a bit more Campari! This is a simple variation on a French 75, but it tastes a world different. The Campari gives it an extra sophisticated edge. —fiveandspice

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Ingredients
  • 1 ounce London dry-style gin
  • 1/2 ounce Campari
  • 1/2 ounce simple syrup
  • 1/4 ounce lemon juice
  • dry Champagne (or other dry sparkling wine)
Directions
  1. Shake all the ingredients except the Champagne with ice until chilled. Strain into a coupe or Champagne flute and top with the Champagne. Garnish with a lemon twist.
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7 Reviews

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Nomnomnom December 31, 2016
This is a great drink! Right up my alley :) I didn't have Campari on hand (tragedy) and subbed Aperol in its place. A winner!
Sarah C. December 31, 2015
Sounds delish - I love Campari drinks. I have a general cocktail question: what amount of superfine sugar could I use in place of simple syrup? Is there an easy conversion method?
tia December 31, 2015
Simple syrup is really easy to make, equal parts sugar and water by weight and stir until the sugar is dissolved. I've put them in a mason jar and shaken to combine, too. You don't even have to heat it.
Sarah C. December 31, 2015
Thanks, but that wasn't the question. I know HOW to make simply syrup, but I don't want to - I only occasionally make cocktails, and I know you can sub superfine sugar, which I would prefer to do.
tia December 31, 2015
I would not make that substitution. In my experience it's much easier to make a small batch of simple syrup than it is to get sugar to dissolve in my cocktail without vastly overshaking it.

That said, if you really want to, simple syrup has 50 calories per ounce, 25 calories in this drink. Sugar is 16 calories per tsp so 1.5 teaspoons should get you there.
fiveandspice December 31, 2015
I don't know precisely with superfine sugar. Maybe you can google it? With regular sugar if you combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water you get about 2/3 cups simple syrup. So for 1/2 oz. simple syrup that's 1/3 oz. sugar and 1/3 oz. water (I think. I'm doing quick mental math, which is not my strong suit...)
Sarah C. January 3, 2016
Thanks for the math conversion - I think that's the direction to go for this effort. I know plenty of regular cocktail recipes call for superfine/powdered sugar (even ones on this site, like eg the champagne cocktails to make with the bitters sugar cubes), so I'm doubtful that it would take huge, drink-altering, effort to dissolve a bit of powdered sugar in a glass of alcohol. I think I'll try a tsp (since superfine sugar is finer, there's more per volume).