If Paris’ top bars are any indication, the French classics are not only alive and well, but are also seeing a bit of a rebirth. While local bartenders champion spirits like pastis and eaux de vie and revive forgotten recipes from history, bartenders around the world, too, are experimenting with French formats, such as the royale, and ingredients like amer. To take part in the resurgence, here are seven classics to know.
According to Franck Audoux in his book, French Moderne, the combination of gin, Suze and yellow Chartreuse was a popular mixed drink enjoyed along France’s Côte d’Azur, and takes its name from the color of its star ingredients. Today, Audoux serves the drink at his Paris bar, Cravan, where he adds another yellow ingredient—lemon juice—to bring the drink into sour territory, for a cocktail that reads like a more-mellow Last Word.
First appearing in Harry MacElhone’s Barflies and Cocktails, the Boulevardier is perhaps the most famous French cocktail stateside. Resembling a Negroni made with whiskey, the cocktail has seen myriad riffs in the decades since its birth. Some, like the Bananavardier, have become a canon unto themselves.
In the south of France, pastis is both a drink and a ritual. Its simplest preparation is a combination of the anise liqueur and cold water, but it also comes flavored with syrups like mint, tomato or orgeat. The Mauresque (French for “Moorish,” a nod to the North African flavors of almond and rose water) is made with the latter.
A staple of 1920s and ’30s Paris and London bar guides, the I.B.F. Pick-Me-Up belongs to the royale family of cocktails, so called for their topping of (French) sparkling wine. The I.B.F. Pick-Me-Up combines Cognac, Curaçao, fernet and Champagne and gets its name from MacElhone’s International Bar Flies society. See also: the Colombe, made with Armagnac, crémant de Loire and kirschwasser; and the Saratoga, made with pineapple, maraschino liqueur and sparkling wine (though Seattle bartender Zac Overman swaps that out for cider in his version).
First appearing in the 1929 book Cocktails de Paris Présentés par RIP, the Tunnel was originally made with gin, dry vermouth, amaro and a red bitter. Audoux’s modernized take, served at Cravan, ditches the amaro and adds Italian vermouth, resulting in a Negroni-like drink.
Like the Mauresque, the Perroquet (French for parrot) is a simple pastis drink. The traditional preparation calls on mint syrup, but an upgraded recipe from Margot Lecarpentier of Paris’ Combat subs in a shrub instead. The simple combination of rice vinegar, sugar and mint adds acidity and a shock of color to the drink.
The French version of a shandy, Picon Bière calls on the bitter French aperitif Amer Picon and a crisp beer. Amer Picon isn’t widely available in the U.S., so American bartenders have taken up the task of creating DIY versions: Austin bartender Darren Scott’s version combines amaro, Combier and orange bitters, for example, while Overman’s combines amari with dry Curaçao and a bitter orange peel–infused neutral grain spirit.
This easy-drinking pairing is France’s answer to the G&T. Though the drink is traditionally served in a highball glass without ice, some modern takes make it ice-cold, like this version from New York’s Libertine, which serves the drink over spear ice and adds vegetal tones with cucumber bitters and tonic. This one, from New York bartender Sarah Morrissey, is presented over cube ice in a Burgundy glass, a serve that she describes as “a little bitter and sweet, refreshing and bright.”
Typically, the Trou Normand is a mid-meal digestif—intended to make space, or a “hole” (“trou,” in French)—for more food. At Le Veau d’Or, Morrissey has modernized the indulgent drink with a shot of fresh-pressed Granny Smith apple juice and an opulent presentation inside a crystal ice bucket. “It’s so smooth and tastes like biting into a cold apple,” she says.
