Champs-Élysées

The Champs-Élysées cocktail is an obscure classic, an herbaceous take on a Sidecar consisting of Cognac, Green Chartreuse, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup, and aromatic bitters. 

Named after one of the most famous avenues in the world in Paris' 8th arrondissement, this classic sour cocktail likely became popular in Europe just as the United States was heading into Prohibition in the early 1920s. The drink first appeared in print in 1925 in Drinks—Long and Short by Nina Toye & A. H. Adair and was featured again five years later in Harry Craddock’s famed The Savoy Cocktail Book as a large format recipe serving six.

Despite having been featured in one of the most famous cocktail books of the 20th century, the origins of the Champs-Élysées are relatively unknown. It was likely to have been created in the early 1900s around the same time that other, more well-known drinks featuring Green Chartreuse emerged such as the Last Word, Bijou, and Tipperary.  

What makes the Champs-Élysées work

The Champs-Élysées is considered a sour-style cocktail, a category of drinks that loosely follow a 2:1:1 ratio of base spirit, and sweet and sour components. 

This recipe most closely resembles a classic Sidecar cocktail, swapping out orange liqueur for Green Chartreuse, a complex, French liqueur said to be made from 130 different botanicals. This herbaceous substitution creates a bright and heady floral bouquet in the glass. 

Cognac serves as the foundational spirit in this cocktail, supporting the other ingredients with a rich spirit-forward base and lending fruit and floral qualities. The combination of simple syrup and freshly squeezed lemon juice creates the sweet and sour elements in the cocktail, balancing each other out while also magnifying the drink’s other ingredients. 

Both the Angostura bitters and lemon twist garnish contribute aromatics to the drink, further releasing a perfume of botanicals into the drink.