Ramos Gin Fizz

The Ramos Gin Fizz is one of those drinks that you don’t order just anywhere and it’s rarely worth the effort to make unless you are really trying to impress someone.

This any many more cocktail recipes can be found on my website LibationLab.com

This is one of the most complex of classic cocktails.  It requires several ingredients and several steps, so make sure you are ready for it.

• 2 ounces Hayman’s Old Tom gin
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• 1/2 ounce lime juice
• 3 dashes orange flower water
• soda water

The traditional recipe calls for orange blossom water, but it is absurdly hard to find outside of the middle east, so a half ounce of Clement’s Creole Shrubb, or another orange liqueur, such as triple sec, Cointreau or Grand Marnier, can be substituted.  Alternately, rosewater can be used.

If you don’t have an Old Tom gin, use a regular London Dry gin like Beefeater and add a barspoon of sugar.

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients but soda and shake with ice for 2 minutes.
Strain into a collins glass and top with soda water.

Advice:

1. When making the Ramos Fizz for others, use a three-piece shaker instead of a Boston shaker, because nobody wants to see the cream in their cocktail curdle with lemon juice through glass.
2. Using a soda siphon enhances the drink aesthetically, because adding soda under pressure allows you to create a bubbly head on the drink that simply pouring soda will not allow.
3. Lacking a siphon, you can use a trick I learned from mischievous students when I was teaching middle school.  Poke or drill a hole in the cap of a plastic soda water bottle and squeeze it into the glass in a sharp stream to froth the drink.
4. Drop the spring from a cocktail strainer into the shaker and shake before adding ice and shake again to expedite the emulsification of the egg white.