The Fizz: it’s a drink that packs in the flavour and refreshes, offers up sour and effervescence, and provides a sound base from which to experiment. And it’s a great way to imbibe over the summer.
The Fizz harks back to somewhere around the 1860’s and 1870’s, a time in the United States that wasn’t so great — they’d just come out of a civil war, after all, and we guess most people could do with a stiff drink in a time like that.
The Fizz was one such stiff drink, and one that was often taken in the morning to wake oneself up — see the Morning Glory Fizz below, for starters.
The formulation for a Fizz is a relatively simple one: it’s spirit, citrus, sugar and soda water. That’s it.
But add an egg white, you’ll catch a Silver Fizz; add an egg yolk and you’ll have a Golden Fizz; add the yolk and the white and you’ve got yourself a Royal Fizz.
As time wore on bartenders began tweaking the formula further, crafting classics like the Ramos Gin Fizz with the addition of cream and orange blossom water, and the Chicago Fizz (which sees the inclusion of rum and port together).
Our favourite Fizz of late, however, has got to be Restaurant Hubert’s Pastis Fizz, which you’ll find below, too.
Ramos Gin Fizz
- 60ml gin
- 15ml lime juice
- 15ml lemon juice
- 30ml cream
- one egg white
- 3 drops orange blossom water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- soda to top
Dry shake then shake all ingredients except the soda with ice. Strain into a collins glass and top with soda.
It’s pretty simple drink this one. The old rule was to shake it for 10 minutes, but that’s just ridiculous. Get a stick blender. Shake it for less time. Either way this drink is a classic that has endured since the New Orleans of the late 1880’s for one simple reason: it’s delicious.
Bird of Paradise Fizz
- 60ml gin
- 45ml fresh lime juice
- 15ml raspberry syrup
- 2 drops orange flower water
- 1 egg white
Dry shake all ingredients except soda, then shake again with ice. Strain into a collins glass and top with soda.
This is one of Charles H. Baker’s more exotic recipes, from his book, The Gentleman’s Companion.
Travelling the world, drinking all the drinks, gathering experience and writing it all down — that sounds like a pretty good gig to us. And that’s the reason why Charles H. Baker Jr’s writing from the first half of last century still has relevance for bartenders today; his work has bequeathed recipes like this Bird of Paradise Fizz.
The Pastis Fizz
- 20ml pastis
- 20ml VS cognac
- 20ml heavy cream
- 20ml orgeat
- 20ml lime juice
- 20ml egg white
- 10ml 1:1 honey water
- 5ml 1:1 sugar syrup
Take 75ml worth of crushed ice and the ingredients and blend in a spindle mix machine until the crushed ice has dissolved. Pour into a highball or Collins glass and top with soda. Garnish with grated nutmeg on top.
Recipe by James Irvine, Restaurant Hubert, Sydney.
It’s a drink which almost never made the list at Restaurant Hubert, but we reckon it’s one they’ll never be able to take off — we think this might have the makings of a modern classic.
It’s pretty much an equal parts drink, so you have that working it its favour (recipe recall being key to a classic drink), and it uses ingredients that are easy to get in most bars around the world.
And if it gets more people drinking pastis — that aniseed-flavoured liquor from France — then, well, we’re all for it.
Morning Glory Fizz
- 60ml Ardbeg Ten Years Old
- 5ml French or Swiss absinthe
- 5ml lime juice
- 10ml lemon juice
- 2tsp sugar
- 1 egg white
- Soda water to top
Add all ingredients except soda to your mixing glass. Dry shake (without ice) to emulsify egg white. Add cracked ice and shake briskly. Strain into a highball glass, no ice, and top with sparkling water. Consume immediately.
This drink has roots that go all the way back to O.H Byron’s Modern Bartender’s Guide, published in 1884, and was designed as a drink to wake you up in the morning. French absinthe gets a run; the drink was served without ice in a tall glass (all the more easier to throw it back); and the bartenders of the time poured fiery single malt Scotch whisky, as was the style of the time (blended Scotch didn’t gain popularity until later).
Chicago Fizz
- 30ml dark rum
- 30ml ruby port
- 15ml lemon juice
- dash of Monin Pure Cane Syrup
- egg white
- soda to top
Dry shake all ingredients, then shake with ice. Strain into a Fizz glass, and top with soda water. No ice, please.
Adapted from a recipe provided by Karel ‘Papi’ Reyes, originally from The Savoy Cocktail Book.
Port has found its way in to cocktails since the days of Harry Johnson and Jerry Thomas, with mentions of port-based drinks in both the Bon Vivants Companion and a healthy 36 mentions in Johnson’s Bartender’s Manual. They list Port Wine Flips and Port Sangarees; Port then was a staple of the bar. Nowadays Port has fallen from favour. The range of styles of Port can’t help its cause, nor does the vogue in avoiding sweet drinks; nor does the need to decant their best wines, like Vintage Ports. Who has time for decanting in the age of the screwcap?