Champs Elysées

I’ve been making a lot of cocktails out of Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails of late, but my library runs much deeper.  So, in an effort to break out of my routine a bit I perused Anvil’s drink list this morning for inspiration and made a quick list of a few I haven’t tried.  If you haven’t taken a careful read of Anvil’s drink list you definitely should.  It’s a who’s who (pardon the bad euphemism) of classic cocktails.  In fact, most of the drinks I’ve featured here are on that list.  So, it’s a good bet that if a drink is on the list, it’s good.  Now for less rambling and more drinking.

From the short list of cocktails I picked the Champs Elysées to mix up.  Interestingly the recipes I found for this drink are all over the board in terms of ratios.  Should be very interesting sampling them all.  To get us rolling I’m going to start with Robert Hess’ recipe from The Essential Bartender’s Guide.

Champs Elysées (Essential Bartender's Guide)
1 oz Brandy
1/4 oz Green Chartreuse
1 oz Lemon Juice
1 Dash Angostura Bitters
1) Combine in a shaker with ice
2) Shake and strain into chilled cocktail glass

Posted

in

by

Comments

2 responses to “Champs Elysées”

  1. erik.ellestad Avatar

    The Champs Elysees is one of those cocktails from a 1925 Book called “Drinks Long & Short”. Most of the drinks in the book are “party recipes” for 6 people.

    Here’s the original recipe:

    Champs Elysees Cocktail
    (6 People)
    3 Glasses Cognac.
    1 Glass Chartreuse.
    1 1/2 Glasses Sweetened Lemon Juice,
    1 Dash Angostura Bitters.
    Shake well and strain into cocktail glasses.

    So you can see why the original recipe is a bit of a problem, just from a ratio perspective. Then it doesn’t specify the type of Chartreuse and calls for “Sweetened Lemon Juice”, whatever that was. Anyway, I usually go with my typical sour recipe: 1 1/2 oz Brandy, 3/4 oz Lemon Juice, 1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse, 1/2 oz Simple Syrup, dash angostura.

  2. Reese Avatar

    Thanks for the recipe, Erik. I found that recipe in the Savoy and thought of your Savoy project. :)

    I like idea of going with a standard sour recipe and adding the Chartreuse. Hess’ recipe is pretty unpleasant without any sweetener.

    -R