Old-school cocktails for the year of innovation

Road-tested cocktails this New Year’s Eve are a delicious counterpoint to 2010’s abounding newness and innovation. I love a Manhattan or a Sidecar, but for this particular night, the top of the list is the French 75, a Champagne-based aperitif believed to have been created in the thirties and named for a 75-millimeter French canon. This cocktail has everything I want – it’s fresh, slightly tangy, effervescent and sturdy. There are plenty of recipes around for, but I like Gourmet Magazines version, in which you half-fill a cocktail shaker with cracked ice, add one jigger of dry gin, one teaspoon of simple syrup and the juice of half a lemon. Shake the mixture vigorously and strain it into a highball glass packed with cracked ice. Fill the glass with chilled Champagne, or a good quality sparkling wine. There’s some debate about whether gin or Cognac was part of the drink’s original composition, but either way, the combination of flavors in this celebratory bracer are right for the New Year’s ritual.