The Ramos Gin Fizz: definitely shaken, not stirred

This classic New Orleans cocktail includes gin, orange flower water, half-and-half, an egg white, citrus juices and a whole lot of shaking. Recipe below.

Years ago, when I was  fairly new to this drinking thing, one of the first cocktails I ever tried was a Ramos Gin Fizz. The identity of the date who suggested it has vanished from my memory bank—what a fate, to be remembered only for a long-ago beverage—but I do remember how much I liked the drink. Frothy, light, citrusy, it tastes like frivolity and—being mostly gin—can pack quite a wallop.

Online scuttlebutt says the Ramos Gin Fizz was created in the 1880s by legendary New Orleans barman Henry Ramos.

Making this drink demands one thing beyond the ingredients: persistence. A proper Ramos Gin Fizz has to be shaken, a lot. Put most of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake some more. Roll your eyes, sigh, find a distraction, keep shaking. Then add the ice. Then shake some more. Many online recipes say you can shake for a minute, or two minutes, total. Those recipes are wrong. Conversely, more traditional recipes call for seven to twelve minutes. Those recipes are exasperating. I do love an elegant cocktail, but I also don’t want to wait that long. As so often, we are advising some middle ground. The cocktail shown in the photo is the product of about four minutes total and it came out very lovely and cloudlike, thank you.

There are dozens of very similar versions floating around the Internet. Here’s ours.

Ramos Gin Fizz
Serves 1 (yes, you can double this, with a big enough shaker)

1/4 cup gin (see Kitchen Notes)
1/8 teaspoon orange flower water (sometimes called orange blossom water)
1 large egg white (see Kitchen Notes)
1-1/2 tablespoons half-and-half (see Kitchen Notes)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon simple syrup
1 cup ice
2 or 3 tablespoons seltzer or club soda (optional—see Kitchen Notes)

Put into a cocktail shaker all the above ingredients EXCEPT the ice and seltzer. Shake vigorously for three minutes. Open carefully and add the ice. Cap up and shake vigorously for at least another minute. (Shaking it longer will give it a frothier head.)

Strain carefully into a glass. Then add the seltzer to the shaker, if using—many sources advise to gently pour the seltzer into the shaker and roll it around in the shaker to loosen any froth that was left behind, and then carefully pour it all onto the drink.

Kitchen Notes

Pick your gin. For this recipe, we used our current baseline household gin, Citadel, a very well balanced gin from France. A gin that is especially robust—Letherbee, say—or even a gin that emphasizes a particular flavor note, like Hendrick’s or Geranium, would not be so suitable for a drink this like this one, which depends on the lighthearted harmony of all its ingredients.

Yes, you need the egg white. This is what gives the Ramos Gin Fizz its frothy top. It also gives it a creamy texture.

Half-and-half? Yes, you can use cream instead. No, don’t use milk.

Barware. Classically, a simple eight-ounce Collins glass is used for this, but use the glass you like. If you want to use a martini glass or a coupe, I say go for it. For this photo, we used stemless cordial glasses and divvied things up—I confess that it was a hot afternoon, and we still had a lot to do, so sharing one recipe three ways worked out nicely.

A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer? The addition of seltzer at the end confers the “fizz”—but honestly, if you wish, you can omit it.