The French 75 is hands down my favorite cocktail, and this lavender version is just so lovely for spring.
I snipped these little lavender flowers from my garden and simmered them down into a simple syrup. Which sounds sort of romantic except that this lavender plant was swarming with scary bees. I held a pair of scissors at arms length and carefully tried to clip a few without getting too close. (oh, the things I do for this blog!)
The lavender flavor is subtle, but I just love the unexpected herbal hint.
I hope you all have a great weekend and find some time to enjoy a sip with a loved one. After such a scary week, I know I’m holding mine extra close (the loved ones, that is…)
If you don’t have access to lavender flowers, you can buy the syrup readymade here or here.
lavender french 75
- 2-4 teaspoons lavender syrup, to taste
- 4 tablespoons gin
- squeeze of lemon, to taste
- 4 tablespoons champagne
- ice, if you're ingredients aren't already chilled
- optional: sub sparkling water for champagne for a lighter cocktail
- about 5-7 little fresh lavender flowers
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup water
- In a small saucepan, bring the ingredients for the lavender syrup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves. Stir as needed to keep the sugar from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Transfer to a glass jar and let chill in the fridge. Strain out the lavender after 30-60 minutes and continue to let it chill. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to a week.
- Mix all cocktail ingredients together & stir. Taste and adjust to your liking.
adapted from Serious Eats.
Made this for guests tonight and they loved it! Made the lavender simple syrup and it is also delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Bees are NOT scary!
Oh, boy! Just made this for the first time and it is amazing! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
oh this is such a good idea! I must say I’m more of a French 77 kind of girl. St. Germain is my cocktail weakness. I’m wondering if the addition of lavender would make the French 77 even that much more delicious. Thank you for the idea and what a beautiful blog 🙂
I love French 77’s too… (and the 76 as well :). I think it would be lovely, maybe use less because St. Germain is sweeter than vodka or gin.
Lovely, just lovely! It does sound very romantic; picking lavender but I appreciate your honesty. And yes we do go through alot for these crazy blogs, don’t we? 🙂
thanks! ha, yes, this was a risky one 🙂
Hi! I love your blog and your recipes! Goodness gracious…what gorgeous food and gorgeous design! So glad I just found it! And speaking of design, I know this is a strange question, but I’m super interested in seeing if you might share what script font you’ve used for the word “lavender” – it looks like it is probably the script font you use in general on your site. I love it and would be extremely grateful if you’d share what it is! Thanks in advance!
What a lovely sounding cocktail and another reason for me to make more lavender syrup! I love adding a little splash of lavender syrup to my weekend coffee but, I have ran out of syrup and I haven’t gotten around to making more. I’ll have to get on it now.
You and I must be cocktial soul mates – I love anything with gin, especially French 75’s!
This looks amazing! Will definitely try this recipe once the lavender starts blossoming.
I don’t have a garden (trying to remedy that by next year though!), but I do have dried lavender I normally use to make tea. Could I use that, and how much do you think I’d need?
Thanks! Wenda
Hi Wenda,
You might want to experiment with the amount, but the Serious Eats recipe that I adapted this from uses 1/2 teaspoon dried lavendar, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/04/drinking-in-season-lavender-french-75-easy-cocktail-recipe.html
My “garden” is still a little bit in the works too – these lavender plants happened to be one of the only things that survived since last year 🙂
Thank you for your quick response! Off to the kitchen now to make some… 🙂
I have all of these ingredients! I can totally enjoy this tonight with some girlfriends! It’s a perfect spring cocktail.
I can’t wait to be able to skip out to the garden and snip my fresh herbs. Spring, I’m ready. Cheers!
Coctail for sure is delicious, but your pictures are amazing, Can’t stop looking at it.
Oooo! This cocktail must be delicious!
So pretty, your photos are stunning!
What a lovely drink, and oh-so-spring-y!
wow the pictures look great, sweet recipe!
This is such a lovely cocktail. I have lavender plant too; I think bees do not like me because every time I need some they are swarming around it. Perfectly balanced and would make a wonderful afternoon drink
This drink sounds lovely!
You were so right that picking the lavender from your garden sounded totally romantic until you told us how you did it. Pretty funny, but glad you didn’t get stung.
The lavender is really pretty, I’ve only ever seen dried lavender.
xo Quinn
Quinn Cooper Style