0
0
Be it New Year’s Eve, a Birthday, or any other kind of celebration, the Florida 75 is the perfect cocktail to cheers with. This twist on the classic French 75, which typically combines Gin, Simple Syrup, Lemon Juice and Champagne, gets a Florida makeover by using Florida Gin and adding some Florida orange. The notes of orange come from a homemade Orange Simple Syrup that uses local Florida sugar as well as adding a splash of delicious local Florida Orange Liqueur. Help support local and enjoy celebrating with your Florida 75 cocktail. Cheers!
What Ingredients Do I Need for a Florida 75 (Orange French 75)?
The Alcohol
The Gin: Florida is quietly producing more and more fantastic gins, so you have plenty of great local options to choose from. Citrus is a typical botanical used in gin making and owing to the abundance of fresh orange and grapefruit grown in Florida there are plenty of citrus forward gins being distilled in the sunshine state, which go great in this orange twist on the classic French 75. Any of the below Florida gins work perfectly in this Florida 75 recipe
Recommended Florida Gin:
- Old St. Pete Tropical Gin- St. Petersburg Distillery
- Magic City Gin- Big Cypress Distillery
- New World Gin- St. Augustine Distillery
- Prescribed American Gin- Prescribed Spirits
- Manifest Gin- Manifest Distilling
All of these Gins (apart from Manifest) are available for home delivery by DRIZLY. Click and use code DRIZLYDEAL for $5 off, or free delivery on your first order.
The Orange Liqueur: You can use any orange liqueur that you have on your bar cart, like Triple Sec or Cointreau, but Florida has their own local version! We always use this delicious local Florida orange liqueur from St. Petersburg distillery called Tippler’s for any recipe that calls for an orange liqueur. If you want to support local, then this is a great addition to your bar cart. FYI it also goes great in Margaritas and Cosmopolitans!
Recommended Florida Orange Liqueur:
Tippler’s is available for home delivery by DRIZLY. Click and use code DRIZLYDEAL for $5 off, or free delivery on your first order.
The Champagne: If you want to go full Florida in this recipe, then you can use the Sparkling Tangerine Wine from Florida Orange Groves Winery. The local Florida Tangerines used to make this local wine really dials up the citrus notes in this Orange French 75.
If you want to stick to a more classic recipe however then opt for champagne. We typically use something toward the cheaper end, like Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut Champagne, but you can go either cheaper and use a prosecco or cava if you like. Any type of dry sparkling wine will do the trick.
Recommended Champagne: Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut Champagne
Recommended Florida Fruit Wine: Sparkling Tangerine Wine- Florida Orange Groves Winery
Order your champagne for home delivery by DRIZLY. Click and use code DRIZLYDEAL for $5 off, or free delivery on your first order.
The Mixers
The Citrus: Like the original French 75 recipe, this orange version still calls for fresh lemon juice to add the required tartness. Although a small number of Lemons are grown in the south of Florida, most US lemons are farmed out west in California. If your local store or market sells Florida lemons, then great- if not you may have to make do with lemons from our Californian cousins. For this Florida 75 recipe you need to use freshly squeezed juice. Bottled lemon juice has an artificial taste that will spoil your cocktail. If you use lemon juice regularly, then we recommend buying a citrus press, they are a game-changer. We use a Zulay citrus press which handles both lemons and limes with equally perfect results.
Recommended Juicer: Zulay Premium Citrus Press
The Sweetener: To bring the Florida orange groves to this drink we use a delicious homemade orange simple syrup. This super easy recipe takes less than an hour to make and simply involves simmering sugar, water, fresh orange juice and orange peel. For all our homemade simple syrup recipes we use local sugar from Florida Crystals.
In a pinch, if you only have standard simple syrup to hand, you can replace the 0.5 oz of orange simple syrup in this recipe with a mixture of 0.25 oz standard simple syrup and 0.25 oz orange juice. If you have the time though, the orange simple syrup gives a much more complex orange flavor.
Recommended Sweetener: Orange Simple Syrup
What Equipment Should I Use For A for a Florida 75 (Orange French 75)?
The Glass: This champagne cocktail is a celebratory drink, so really only one style of glass will do. A champagne flute. The tall thin shape of a champagne flute was specifically designed to retain carbonation. You will also notice that most champagne glasses have a small indent at the bottom of the glass that is designed to cause bubbles to gather and then quickly rise giving it that signature fizz. It also makes you feel fancy drinking a cocktail out of a champagne flute!
Recommended Champagne Flute: JBHO Hand Blown Champagne Flutes
The Shaker: A good shaker is vital to making quality homemade cocktails. Our favorite shaker is the beautifully designed patterned brass shaker from Absolut Elyx Boutique. You can get $15 off your first order by using this link.
Recommended cocktail shaker: ABSOLUT ELYX BOUTIQUE Brass Patterned Cocktail Shaker. (Use this link to get $15 off your first order)
For our full list of best bar equipment check out our recommended barware.
How Should I Serve A Florida 75 (Orange French 75)?
Shaken or Stirred: You’ll want to shake all of the ingredients, apart from the champagne, to ensure that everything is nicely mixed and chilled. Next you’ll strain into a glass, top with the champagne and then give it a quick stir in the glass. If you need a new shaker then we recommend the patterned brass shaker from Absolut Elyx Boutique.
The Garnish: For this orange version of a French 75 we like to use an orange twist to garnish. Checkout this YouTube video from “Steve the Bartender” for instructions on how to create an orange twist as well as other simple cocktail garnishes.
We hope you enjoy our Florida 75 recipe below, and as always drink local and drink responsibly. Cheers!
This post contains affiliate links and we may earn a small commission when purchases of recommended products are made. This is at no additional cost to you, and every penny we make goes back into buying and trying more tasty Floridian tipples.
Florida 75 (Orange French 75) Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 oz Florida Gin
- 0.5 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
- 0.5 oz Florida Orange Liqueur
- 0.5 oz Orange Simple Syrup
- Champagne
Instructions
- Step 1: Add Gin, Lemon Juice, Orange Liqueur and Simple Syrup to a cocktail shaker with ice.
- Step 2: Shake for 15-20 seconds.
- Step 3: Strain into a chilled champagne flute.
- Top with Champagne or Prosecco and gently stir.
- Garnish with an Orange twist.
OTHER FLORIDA COCKTAIL RECIPES TO TRY:
Old Fashioned Floridian (Orange Old Fashioned)
4 Florida Fall Apple Cider Cocktails
4 Florida Fall Pumpkin Spice Cocktails
Tampa Bay Breeze (Tampa Bay Rays game day cocktail)
Tom(ahawk) Collins (FSU game day cocktail)
The Gator (UF game day cocktail)
Knightro (UCF game dat cocktail)
This drink was SO GOOD! Thank you!