The key ingredient in this cocktail is Chambord, which is made from black raspberries, honey, vanilla and some herbs. Chambord has been made for about 300 years in France (since 1685) and is a sweet, but tasty liqueur. Chambord is all natural, unlike other synthetically flavour liqueurs and is a very versatile liqueur in cocktails. It is relatively light in alcohol strength, at 23%, and has a retail price, for a 750ml bottle, of $39 CDN ($36US).
The French Martini was created by the Chambord liqueur company for a world wide promotion. It seems to have worked, and the cocktail is now quite popular. This is what liqueur and spirit companies need to do when creating cocktails. Most spirit companies just take the name of their product and apply it to a long list of classic cocktails. That’s just so boring and unimaginative. But is Chambord’s case, they created a popular cocktail that is original and tied to the product. This is good marketing.
French Martini
2 oz Vodka
½ oz Chambord
2 ½ oz Pineapple Juice
Pack a shaker full of ice and add all ingredients. Shake or stir*. Stain into a martini glass. Garnish with a lime twist.
* I shake because the pineapple juice makes the drink cloudy anyway, and the shaking give the drink a nice light texture because pineapple juice froths nicely.
When the Chambord company was creating the French Martini, it might have been more French to include brandy instead of vodka. One of these days I’ll shake one up with brandy and check out whether it works or not. They probably tried it and decided that for mass appeal and the martini moniker, vodka was the proper choice. For now, if you want to put a little more “french” in your French Martini, use Ciroc vodka which is a grape based vodka (sounds like grappa to me). Or you can use the ubiquitous Grey Goose vodka which is of french origin.
Another good cocktail to make with Chambord is simply adding an ounce to a flute of champagne. This is a much nicer cocktail than a Kir Royale, even though a Kir Royale is a great drink also. It's good to mix thing up every once in a while.
Is it bad that I want to leave work and go home to make this drink?
Posted by: Psychgrad | February 04, 2008 at 07:02 PM
Absolutely Yummy! This is one of my favourite drinks!
Posted by: Rose | February 04, 2008 at 09:11 PM
Is it bad that this sounds incredibly yummy to me at 9:42 in the morning? Maybe I should have breakfast before hitting the bottle!
Posted by: Anne | February 05, 2008 at 08:45 AM
Well, isn't the saying it is 12 noon somewhere? LOL Try it and you'll be hooked! This is the drink which got me hooked on cocktails again.
Posted by: Jerry | February 05, 2008 at 09:31 AM
Ooooh, this does sound yummy! Wonder if I can find Chambord here in Italy???
Posted by: Barbara | February 05, 2008 at 12:10 PM
I was going to say that they have to have Chambord given that Italy is so close to France. However, I remember that in Italy it is always best to expect the unexpected Barb! LOL
Posted by: Jerry | February 05, 2008 at 04:41 PM
mmmmmm ~ this is my new FAV drink! I love it with the Grey Goose and maybe a slash of champagne :)
Posted by: Terri Takacs | February 21, 2008 at 04:31 PM
Terri - I have never thought of adding a splash of champagne. Now that sounds REALLY good!
Posted by: Jerry | February 22, 2008 at 08:20 AM