Gin Fizz
Gin, lemon and sugar shaken hard and lifted with soda, served short with no ice. Brisk and quickly drunk.
- MethodShaken
- GlassSmall fizz (Delmonico) glass
- IceNone (served up)
- Strengthabout 11.2% ABV
- BaseGin
- Tasterefreshing, sour
Recipe
| 60 ml 2 oz | London dry gin |
| 30 ml 1 oz | Fresh lemon juice |
| 22.5 ml ¾ oz | Simple syrup (1:1) |
| Top up: 60 ml 2 oz | Soda water |
Garnish. A thin lemon wheel, or nothing at all, as in older bars.
Method
- Chill a small fizz glass.
- Shake the gin, lemon juice and syrup very hard with ice for about 15 seconds.
- Strain into the chilled glass without ice.
- Top with cold soda water from a height to raise a light head, and drink it quickly.
About the Gin Fizz
A fizz is a sour topped with a little soda and served short, without ice, to be drunk while it still sparkles. The Gin Fizz is the plainest of the family: tart, lightly sweet and very fresh. Shaken with egg white it becomes a Silver Fizz, with a soft white head.
History
Earliest record 1876: Jerry Thomas, Bar-Tender's Guide, 1876 edition (appendix)
Documented
Fizzes first appear in print in the appendix to the 1876 edition of Jerry Thomas's Bar-Tender's Guide, which includes a gin version. They became a fashion in American bars in the 1880s and 1890s, especially as a morning drink, and many variations with egg, cream or fruit followed.
Legend and lore
No single inventor is claimed with any evidence; the fizz seems to have spread from bar to bar as a style rather than as one person's creation.
Variations
- Silver Fizz. Add 25 ml egg white and dry-shake before shaking with ice.
- Golden Fizz. Add an egg yolk in place of the white, for a richer, custardy drink.
- Ramos Gin Fizz. The New Orleans version with cream, egg white, both citruses and orange flower water.
- Tom Collins. The same ingredients served long over ice with more soda.
Bartender's notes
- Keep the soda in the fridge; warm soda goes flat almost at once.
- A fizz is meant to be drunk in a few minutes, so keep the glass small.
