Equal parts Cognac and amaretto, poured over ice and given a gentle stir, make a rich, unhurried after-dinner sipper — the brandy's dried-fruit warmth wrapped in marzipan sweetness. It drinks rounder and softer than a Godfather, Cognac's fruit standing where the scotch's malty bite would be, and the cold glass keeps the almond liqueur's sugar from turning cloying.
Stirred · Rocks · On the Rocks
build
Fill an old fashioned glass with ice cubes.
add
Pour the cognac and amaretto directly over the ice in equal parts.
stir
Stir gently to combine and chill. Serve immediately.
The drink dates to the 1970s and takes its name from The French Connection, the 1971 film directed by William Friedkin. No one is on record as having mixed it first, and no bar claims it — it is better understood as a convention than an invention, one of the simple two-ingredient duos of its era and a cognac-based sibling of the scotch-and-amaretto Godfather. The IBA now lists it among its official cocktails, in the Contemporary Classics category.