Ramos gin fizz is a popular cocktail that has its origins in the early 1800s. It’s said to have been invented by bartender Henry Ramos, who created it for an 1884 banquet at the Turf Club.
The drink includes gin and lemon juice, plus orange flower water and cream or egg white (or both). The mixture gets shaken with ice, strained into a tall glass filled with crushed ice, then topped off with seltzer water.
And now you know how long it takes to make one!
How Long Does It Take To Make A Ramos Gin Fizz?
The time needed: 3 minutes and 15 seconds. This is how it’s done:
Ingredients:
- 1 oz gin (30 ml)
- 2 oz lemon juice (60 ml)
- 0,5 oz orange flower water (15 ml)
- 1 tsp caster sugar or simple syrup
- crushed ice and seltzer water to top up.
Steps:
- Combine gin, lemon juice and simple syrup in a shaker filled with crushed ice.
- Shake well for about 10 seconds.
- Then add orange flower water and shake again.
- Strain the mixture into a tall glass filled with crushed ice and top off with seltzer water.
- Serve immediately.
How to Make an Authentic Perfect Ramos Gin Fizz
Henry Ramos is the man who created this cocktail. And of course, he had to have a special way of making it! So here are his instructions for you:
Add all ingredients except ice and seltzer water to the shaker. Shake well but not too long. Strain into a tall glass filled with ice cubes and top off with seltzer water.
The drink should be creamy white, with a subtle orange flower flavor.
How Strong Is A Ramos Gin Fizz?
If you make it according to the original recipe, Ramos gin fizz comes out at about 19% ABV (38 proof). So it’s quite potent! This means that this is a cocktail for after dinner or a second dessert!
It’s also very refreshing thanks to the lemon juice and seltzer water. The orange flower water makes it all taste fresh and floral too.
Henry Ramos’ original recipe doesn’t include egg white. This ingredient was added later to make the drink creamier. Both versions are delicious, so it’s up to you whether to continue using egg white or not.
Best Gin for Ramos Gin Fizz
The recipe hasn’t changed much over the years. So feel free to stick with your favorite gin when making this cocktail.
If you want to make an authentic Ramos gin fizz, you should use Old Tom gin since it was Henry Ramos’ favorite and was used in his original recipe.
Otherwise, choose a juniper-forward dry gin like Tanqueray, Plymouth, or Martin Miller’s.
The History of the Ramos Gin Fizz
This cocktail is said to be based on a drink called “New Orleans fizz” which was first created around 1880. The original recipe included gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg white (so no orange flower water). The fizz was just a carbonated version of this drink, and it became very popular among the city’s bartenders.
Henry Ramos used that original recipe to add his twist. He created a new “gin fizz” which included orange flower water and cream or egg white (or both). And voilà! The Ramos gin fizz was born. And this was also the name of his bar, which he opened in 1888 at 17th and J Streets in Sacramento, CA.
He kept the recipe a secret for years, but it eventually got out into the world thanks to a local newspaper reporter who found out about it. The Ramos gin fizz then became everyone’s favorite drink.
Today, this cocktail is one of the most famous and popular drinks in all of the US! But sometimes you have to order it by a special name: “New Orleans fizz”, or even just “fizz”. This is because there were so many variations of the original recipe over time. Everything from different ingredients, to different names, to even different recipes!
Today’s variations are mostly what you see at bars around the country. That means the differences are subtle, but they’re there.
The drink also became known all over America as “gin fizz”, because that was its original name. And apparently, it took some time for people to call it a “Ramos gin fizz”.
So you’ll probably have to try several Ramos gin fizzes before finding the one that tastes just right! And then you can learn how to make it yourself.
You should also know that this cocktail had a lot of variations over time because it was so popular and bartenders wanted to find their twist.
For example, in the 1920s a bartender in San Francisco added orange juice to make it sweeter. But everyone agreed that this version tasted better! They called it “cream fizz” because of the cream from the egg white.
In New York City, they started using soda water instead of seltzer water. And also milk instead of cream. This was to make the drink taste creamier (and also because they couldn’t get fresh cream). They called it “sour”, even though it’s not sour at all!
There are many other versions still out there, but you’ll have to find them for yourself!
