Today’s Cocktail Advent Calendar is another one of those, “you have to look it up every time some one orders it” cocktails. I’ve only made the French Connection at a few different points in my bartending career that seem like they’re shots from B movies. Like, two people walking up to the bar seem to be arguing, something about missing diamonds, then walk up to me and say,
“Boujour, French Connection sil vous plait.”
Then they wander back into some noir haze. The French connection is another one of those great cocktails from the 70s that’s just a two-fer. Though we added Angostura to make it into a three-fer so you think we we’re working. And, if by any chance you missed the amaretto of Monday you get another shot at amaretto again – right now. But, unfortunately, this is the last amaretto on the entire Cocktail Advent Calendar menu.
Listen, I was wondering. Can I ask you a question? Uh... was your father a meat burgler? Here's why I ask: because it looks like somebody stole two fine hams and shoved them down the back of your dress.
To really bring home the feeling of this cocktail coming – from a bar wrapped in Naugahyde, red lights and slow jam music – we will be serving it at room temperature with hot water on the side. It will be gentle enough to sip that way, or could be warmed up to improve the aroma, either way you can spend the entire evening doing your best ladies man impression.
Get down with it.
The French Connection
- 1.5 oz Cognac
- .5oz Amaretto
- 2 dash Angostura
Serve with an old fashioned glass of warm water and some Bill Withers tunes on the side
I once saw the eponymous movie panned in an ex-post-facto Internet review based on the charge that it was low on plot, and relied instead upon “grittiness” and a certain aesthetic.
You would, though, appreciate it for the very same reason that the Philistine who wrote that review, didn’t.
And, it will add a dimension to how you think about this cocktail.