The French Martini

Ingredients

½ oz Chambord Liqueur
1½ oz vodka
1½ oz pineapple juice

Raspberry or lemon twist to garnish
Handful of ice

Pour the Chambord, vodka and pineapple juice in a shaker. Add ice and shake hard. The harder you shake, the frothier the pineapple juice will be and the prettier the drink. Strain into martini glass. Top with a raspberry or lemon twist.

Cocktail Notes

Back in the 90’s, fruity vodka martinis were all the rage with the glitterati. I should know as I was a young server at the time and the two most ordered cocktails were the Cosmo and the French Martini. Vodka was just beginning to take off with luxury brands like Grey Goose, Belvedere and Chopin having just entered the US market. It was hard to get people to drink straight vodka but mix it with some fruit juice and you have something way more approachable, especially for a novice drinker. The French Martini was supposedly invented in the late 80’s at one of Keith McNally’s restaurants in New York City but by the mid-nineties, it had spread like wildfire and people across the country were ordering it. I’m guessing the French part of the name can be attributed to the inclusion of Chambord, a blackberry liqueur from the Loire Valley region of France. The other two ingredients are vodka and pineapple juice. It’s an easy drink to make but even easier to love. You can adjust the ratios to suit your tastes and modernize it with gin, anejo tequila or rum in place of the vodka. The French Martini is definitely a throwback but there’s nothing wrong with taking a sip down memory lane, especially when it’s this delicious.

If you’re looking to use the Chambord for another recipe, try these DIY Chambord Chocolate Truffles.