Sweet, sour and fresh. The Gin Fizz ticks all the right boxes
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Simplified version of the Ramos Gin Fizz
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Even better with homemade soda
The Gin Fizz cocktail has its roots in the America of the 19th century. The Gin Fizz is essentially identical to the Collins cocktail with the sole difference being that the soda water is squirted from a soda syphon, which creates the extreme fizziness of the cocktail and gives it its name. The Gin Fizz cocktail, just like the Collins, is a cocktail that excels due to its simplicity. It has the strength of the Damrak Gin or Bols Genever, the freshness of the lemon juice, a bit of sugar and the fizziness of the soda from a soda syphon. Sparks guaranteed!
How to make a Gin Fizz?
There's a good reason why the Gin Fizz cocktail is so famous. The cocktail ticks all the right boxes. The Gin Fizz recipe has a perfect balance of sweet, sour and freshness and this is all held together with a generous portion of gin. Furthermore, the Gin Fizz is very easy to make, also at home.
Gin Fizz ingredients
Gin Fizz glassware and tools
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Highball glass
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Cocktail shaker
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Jigger
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Strainer
Gin Fizz recipe
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Pour all the ingredients, except for the soda water into a shaker and shake the cocktail for around 10 seconds.
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Strain the cocktail over ice cubes into a Collins or highball glass.
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Top up with sparkling water from a soda syphon.
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Garnish your Gin Fizz with a slice of lemon.
History of the Gin Fizz
The history of the Gin Fizz is also linked to the Ramos Gin Fizz. The Gin Fizz is a very simplified version of this cocktail. The Ramos Gin Fizz, like many classic cocktails, was invented in New Orleans, the cradle of American cocktail culture. The cocktail was invented by Henry C. Ramos, a bartender at the Imperial Cabinet Bar, in 1888 and named the New Orleans Fizz. Ramos opened his own cocktail bar, The Stag, not long after where the cocktail became incredibly popular. According to stories from this time, the bar had to hire 20 bartenders to meet the growing demand for the Ramos Fizz cocktail. During Mardi Gras, a carnival held in New Orleans, this number even rose to 35!
In the 1920s, Don Higgins of The New Orleans-Item Tribune, persuaded Henry C. Ramos to give him the recipe for the Ramos Gin Fizz. This was all done in absolute secrecy. When Henry C. Ramos died in September 1928, the original recipe was published in this newspaper and heralded as one of New Orleans’ most important cultural treasures.
The Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans trademarked the Ramos Gin Fizz recipe and promoted it so successfully that it quickly spread across the USA, and the entire world.
Homemade soda to your Gin Fizz
These days, many bartenders like to make their own soda waters. It's quite easy to do. First flavour your water by soaking fruit or vegetables in the water. Then you need a soda syphon and soda cartridges to add the bubbles. You can buy them from many different retailers.
Spice up your Gin Fizz recipe
Damrak Gin is characterised by its full notes of citrus and orange. The orange flavour gives us many possibilities for creating new variations. For example, you could replace the sugar syrup with cinnamon syrup. Or shake the cocktail with fresh basil. Better still, combine these two ingredients in a basil-cinnamon syrup to kill two birds with one stone. You can create your own basis-cinnamon syrup by heating some cinnamon sticks in sugar and water. Once this mixture is ready, allow your syrup to rest for an hour or two with the cinnamon sticks still in. Remove them and blend the syrup with the fresh basil. Bob's your uncle!
