The French Martini , neither French nor a Martini, is a mix of vodka, Chambord liqueur, and pineapple juice that was one of the most popular drinks of the 1990s. The drink’s precise origin is difficult to pin down, but it had to be before 1995, when it first appears in print, and after 1979, when Chambord was first “imported, prepared and bottled” by a Philadelphia liqueur maker (although the maker claimed it is an ancient French formula, its raspberry-blackberry flavor goes against the French tradition of single-fruit infusions). Much as the Cosmopolitan is essentially a Martini-glass variation on the Kamikaze, the French Martini is a Martini-glass variation on the 1980s Sex on the Beach (vodka, Chambord, pineapple juice, and either peach schnapps, Midori melon liqueur, or 7-Up). See Cosmopolitan.
The name “French Martini” had already been used in the 1970s by Seagram’s gin to promote a Dry Martini with a couple of drops of cognac in it and in the 1980s for a mixture of gin and Lillet. Once the Chambord version became popular, they were forgotten. That popularization was greatly aided by the drink’s appearance in early 1996 on the opening menu of New York’s iconic Martini bar, Pravda. See Employees Only.
Recipe: Shake with ice: 45 ml vodka, 45 ml fresh or canned pineapple juice and 15 ml Chambord. Garnish with a small piece of pineapple on the edge of the glass.
“Chambord: Liqueur Royale de France.” Advertisement, Los Angeles Times Home Magazine, October 21, 1979, 59.
Tillotson, Kristin. “Couth, Conversation and Cocktails, Anyone?” Minneapolis Star tribune, December 7, 1995, E-1.
By: Fernando Castellon and David Wondrich