Henry Charles Ramos created the Ramos Gin Fizz, the heady, floral, creamy gin cocktail, in 1888 at the Imperial Cabinet Saloon in New Orleans. It required so much shaking, as many as 12 minutes of shaking, that many bartenders were kept on hand keep up with the orders of this popular elixir.
The Louisiana governor, US Senator, Huey Long, the notorious politician, loved it so much he brought a bartender to The New Yorker Hotel where he stayed to teach the hotel's bartender how to make it so that he could have a Ramos Gin Fizz when he visited New York.
A fizz is a sour, with seltzer, typically served up in a collins glass. A collins is a sour with seltzer served over ice, such as the Tom Collins.
The Ramos Gin Fizz is a delicious treat, flavored with orange water, a distillation of orange blossoms. It's kind of tastes like a creamsicle. Some sources note that vanilla is a controversial ingredient. I like a couple drops in mine even if it isn't part of the original drink (which also called for powdered sugar, not simple syrup).
The Ramos Gin Fizz is famously the bane of bartenders because it's got 8 or 9 ingredients and because of all the shaking, dry shaking and shaking with ice. I take the handy short cut of blending the mix, then shaking with ice. An excellent strategy for serving several drinks.
Here's the Instagram video of making it.
The Ramos Gin Fizz
Equipment
- 2
Ingredients
- 2 ounces gin
- ½ ounce lemon juice
- ½ ounce lime juice
- ¾ ounce simple syrup
- 1 ounce cream
- several dashes orange blossom water
- 2 drops vanilla extract (optional)
- 1 egg white
- seltzer as needed
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients except the seltzer in a large measuring glass and blend well with a hand blender. (You can also do this in blender.) Pour the drink into a shaker filled with ice. Shake till chilled. Pour into a chlled collins glass or highball. Top with seltzer.
Good to have you back! I’m having a French 75 for Valentine’s Day & we will finish off the Prosecco, still planning the meal.
I’ve been cooking Thai food, in need of something to bring cheer during freezing quarantine.
Wish you all good health and a happy Valentine’s Day.
good to be back! I'm always at least on instatgram on friday: here's the link to our making one last week, with bukowski poem
Thank you for the link. What a great poem & I’m a fan of Barfly too. Glad I came back and found it.
A quick note on the Sodastream:
I used to enjoy a carbonated Italian coffee called Bibi Caffee, it came in a small 8 oz. bottle, can’t find them anymore. I found a similar one at World Market, but it was too sweet, so I decided to make my own using my Sodastream.
I painted my kitchen in brown dots each time I tried. Do not attempt this, it does not work, the coffee expands & blows up all over the kitchen. If you find a way to carbonate coffee, please share.