I don’t remember the occasion, but a few weeks ago we picked up a bottle of Lillet Blanc. It’s one of my favorite summer drinks (Lillet + Orange + ice), but it’s been ages since we had any around. (I – ahem – have a bad habit of polishing it off… )
So knowing we were armed with Lillet, I asked Chris to make me a cocktail with it. Something sweet. The “French Connection” is what he made, following a recipe found on the web.
THE FRENCH CONNECTION
The cocktail had all of the ingredients to make a fantastic drink: brandy, honey syrup, lillet… but despite following the recipe perfectly, it just fell a bit flat. Chris increased the syrup a bit and added more orange bitters and it helped a lot. The final cocktail was very reminiscent of a brandy old fashioned. Not bad!
While I appreciated Chris making the drink, I’ll admit it wasn’t a “top ten”. If anyone out there has an alternative recipe they like, I’d love to hear it! This one really feels like it has a lot of potential but we just didn’t hit the mark.
Ingredients
- 1 oz Lillet Blanc
- 1 oz Cognac We cheated and used Courvoisier VSOP.
- 1 dash Angostura Bitters
- 1 dash Orange Bitters
- 1/2 oz Honey Syrup 1 part honey, 1 part warm water
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice.
- Stir to mix well and chill.
- Fine strain into a bucket glass with a large ice cube.
- (Optional) Garnish with an orange peel.
i always thought a french connection was brandy + amaretto? I.e. godfather with brandy subbing the whisky.
I had not heard that but I think it’s definitely worth a try! Thanks for the inspiration!
it is rather sweet so could deviate from the traditional 50/50. i made one the other day for my wife (who likes them sweeter) with some of my home made cherry brandy, combines nicely with the amaretto – reminiscent of a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakewell_tart
i’ve only known of two versions, brandy and amaretto or cognac and grand marnier