The Champs-Élysées is a cognac sour that swapped the Sidecar's orange liqueur for green Chartreuse and never looked back. Named for the Parisian avenue, fixed in print by Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, it layers 130 herbs' worth of Chartreuse over brandy's dried-fruit warmth with lemon holding the line. It remains criminally under-ordered — the drink for the night you want a Sidecar with something to say.
A Sidecar that took a detour through a monastery garden.
History
The recipe's canonical appearance is the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, Harry Craddock's compendium of the American Bar's repertoire — though like most Savoy entries it was likely collected rather than invented there, and no individual creator is documented. The name trades on interwar Paris glamour; the drink itself is structurally London-American: a sour built on the French spirit shelf.
It spent the mid-century in obscurity alongside most Chartreuse drinks and returned with the revival, riding the same wave that brought back the Last Word and the Bijou.
The Spec
A cognac sour where green Chartreuse plays both liqueur and co-conspirator, with a dash of Angostura to deepen the base. Keep the simple syrup light — Chartreuse brings its own sugar.
Cognac Sets the Floor
A VS cognac works; a VSOP's extra depth is worth it here, since the brandy has to hold its own against Chartreuse at full volume. Fruit-forward styles flatter the lemon.
Mind the Sugar
The quarter ounce of simple syrup is a trim tab, not an engine — some specs omit it entirely. Taste your Chartreuse pour and adjust; the drink should finish herbal-dry, not dessert-sweet.
Bottom Line
If the Sidecar is in your rotation, the Champs-Élysées belongs there too — same bones, better conversation. One of the easiest ways to spend down a Chartreuse bottle that isn't another Last Word.