How to make a South 385, a delicious twist on a French 75

It’s always five o’clock somewhere. But favorite cocktails vary from place to place.

At 3’s, a 12-hole short course and community gathering place in Greenville, S.C., that’s anchored by a bar and “grubhouse,” one of the signature drinks is the South 385.

I-385 is an interstate that connects Greenville to I-26, which leads to Columbia and Charleston. But this refreshing drink was not inspired by a road. It’s a riff on the French 75 (known in French as a Soixante Quinze), a classic cocktail that dates to 1915, when an early version was created at the New York Bar in Paris — later Harry’s New York Bar — using gin, champagne, lemon juice and sugar.

The 385 South has a similar profile, with an artisan spin. As 3’s amiable barman Carl Williamson demonstrates in the accompanying video, the recipe calls for an ounce-and-a-half of Hendricks gin, a half-ounce of St. Germaine elderflower liqueur, a quarter-ounce of house-made orange blossom syrup and two ounces of house-made hibiscus lemonade. Mix them with ice in a shaker, which you rattle around like a maraca to marry all the flavors, and you’re nearly good to go. Unlike a French 75, which is traditionally served in a champagne flute, the 385 South is poured into a more casual coupe glass, topped with a splash of bubbly and garnished with a lemon wheel. 

It’s always five o’clock somewhere. But there’s no rule that says you have to wait until then.