Nobody adheres to the old adage never let the
truth get in the way of a good story quite like bartenders,
and one of the most legendary drinks of all time is the Ramos Gin Fizz.
Although, unlike with some other cocktails, the origin story is actually quite straightforward
and the myths and the legends come from the method of preparation.
So do you really need a bunch of mates to help you make one?
You might just want to stay tuned to find out!
This is a member of the Fizz family, which are made up of a base of spirit, citrus,
sweetener and then lengthened with soda, and yes if you're thinking that sounds very
similar to a Collins you'd be correct, and we'll definitely take a look at the
differences, or indeed lack thereof, in a video at some point soon, so hit that subscribe button
and notification bell so you don't miss out. This particular iteration though was invented
in New Orleans around 1888 by a man named Henry also known as Carl Ramos
it was originally called the New Orleans Fizz, but the name of its creator stuck.
It's easy to see why it was such a runaway success.
You're adding cream, egg white and some aromatics to gin and citrus and that creates
essentially a boozy and bright ice cream, and who doesn't want that?
Somewhat sadly though Ramos shuttered his bar due to prohibition
and went into the paint mixing business, I guess it's somewhat of a shared skill set,
and he actually died before the repeal. As far as we know he never mixed another drink
and had no idea that his Fizz would be one of the few cocktails to stand the test of time
and inspire many a pedantic argument between hipster bartenders.
This cocktail is all about the texture and this is where the tall tales come in. Legend has it
that this cocktail has to be shaken for anywhere up to 15 minutes to achieve that pillowy goodness,
and at Ramos's bar, and many others, this is achieved by setting up a relay of bartenders to
pass the drink along. Apparently at Mardi Gras in 1915 there were 32 bartenders, or general drinks
shakers, trying to keep up with demand. Honestly it's just not really necessary,
in fact Ramos himself seems to have inflated the shaking length over the years.
Working in dispense bars I've got good results by just dry shaking as you would any egg white
cocktail and then adding one or two ice cubes and shaking until they're completely dissolved,
and then shaking with ice as normal, and that extra step just ensures that you shake for long
enough to emulsify and whip everything into a fluffy texture, but only really takes a
minute or two longer than your usual shake. You can also be really lazy and use a stick
blender to aerate it all or I've even seen some bars that have automatic shaking machines.
That said half the fun, at least, of bartending is the theatre and getting everyone involved
passing the shaker around is a really fun way to do that, and I even like sometimes to pass it over
the bar and make guests work for their cocktails. Interestingly, the early recipe for this was
really quite small, so just a jigger of gin and a couple of
tablespoons of cream, as told by Ramos himself. And the original glassware it was served in at the
Roosevelt hotel, which actually bought the rights to the drink from Ramos's son and trademarked it,
was only about six ounces or 180 mils, so I also err on the smaller side as I think
that you want to finish this drink while it's still cold and before it separates too much.
Having everything nice and chilled beforehand definitely helps so get
your glass in the freezer if possible and make sure your soda water is chilled too.
The vanilla is a point of contention here. Ramos never admitted to adding it in the drink,
but others maintain that it was his secret ingredient. Frankly I just like the ice cream
vibes it gives off so I do keep it in there. Do be careful with the orange blossom water,
it can so easily be overpowering and turn any drink into potpourri so I use it as you would a
twist, so just do a couple of dashes on the top to provide a gentle aroma as you're drinking.
The original Ramos recipe actually used Old Tom gin which is a heavier sweeter style than
London Dry. Plymouth is a good substitute as it sits somewhere between the two styles
and is readily available, but really any bright and citrus forward gin will work.
I'm actually using Steve the Bartender's Threefold Gin A) to return the favor of him being a legend
and helping me out here and B) because its lively citrus and floral notes like grapefruit
and lavender really lift this cocktail. So we're going to start with 10 mil,
or a third of an ounce each of lemon juice, lime juice and sugar syrup.
Most recipes do split between lemon and lime and it gives a nice kind of a, I don't know
like lime splice sort of ice ice lolly vibe to it, but of course, if you only have one or the
other it's not going to ruin the drink to just do it for full 20 mils of one type of citrus.
So 10 ml or a third of an ounce of lemon juice. 10 ml or a third of an ounce of lime juice.
10 ml or a third of an ounce of sugar syrup.
20 mls or 2/3 of an ounce of cream.
I really am not going to wade into the cream debate here. I think every country has
various different types of cream, but basically one that's like fairly thick but still pourable.
And then we're going to go 45 mils of the gin.
A good little trick again for workflow which I definitely don't always do,
but just to kind of help clean your jigger out if you do the gin or whatever the alcohol you're
using after using cream, it just sort of obviously cleans it out and stops it being quite as messy.
Now we have a couple of dashes of vanilla bean extract,
or in this case I'm just going to do a very small pour.
Obviously you don't want it to be overpowering in the slightest.
Ah, we're not gonna put the orange blossom water in here because we're gonna do it right on the top
of the cocktail again, so that's kind of what's getting up your nose when you're having a drink.
And then it is obviously again it's all about the texture, it is sort of one full small egg white,
or around sort of three quarters of an ounce if you're using pasteurized to measure it out.
And we're gonna give that a dry shake. Now, unfortunately in these times it's
not that easy to get everyone together to help out so I decided to reach out
to my bartender colleagues across the globe for some help instead,
and I know just the person to get this started. If you haven't seen Truffles on the Rocks making
Ramos yet, then you are missing out. John Felix, want to take it from here?
Of course. There you go guys, so we're going to put the coil of a strainer in there,
that's going to help for a faster emulsification and a thicker froth. Your muscles are going
gonna thank me later, especially if you make more than one Ramos in the evening.
So I'm gonna open this shaker, put the coil right in there,
close it back and dry shake it for about 10 seconds. Or maybe more.
You hear that? The sound of cleverness.
I think we're good now, so Cara back to you.
Thank you. Oops, I guess we better pop this in the mail for you!
Then you want to add a small amount of ice to your shaker tin,
so literally just one or two cubes depending on the size of ice you're using
pop, the tins together and give it a shake until everything is dissolved.
Again it's always nice to have a couple of mates on hand to help out. Steve?
Happy to help Cara!
Great choice of gin by the way.
Which actually reminds me, I'm helping some friends out with their Ramos.
I'm getting gassed. Can you give us hand Leandro?
Thanks Steve. Give it a nice hard shake for them.
My smile is going to give you a run for your money, buddy.
All right, here you go Vlad.
Thanks.
I mean, honestly I just never thought we would end up in a high-speed car chase but now whenever,
oh hello, what's this? What?
I can barely hear him. You want me to shake it? Okay.
Oh, it's gin.
Yeah no problemo. I will get that shaked up for you. I'm just gonna stick with whiskey.
Yeah, there you go.
Well that's all nice and dissolved, so we'll add a little bit more ice. Thanks guys.
Pop in as much ice as we usually would when shaking, so fill
up the top, pop our tins together.
I'll just get it started because that'll hold it together nicely.
And today I'm going to show you how to make the Cheesy Honey cocktail- Whoa! What is it?
Looks like Ramos Gin Fizz by Cara from Behind the Bar. Okay, let's shake.
Oh I think it's enough for me, guys who's next?
And that is the secret to making the best cocktail
in the world- Woah!! Smells like a Ramos.
Nick, catch.
Whoa! Now that is a hell of a throw from across The Pond.
Well done Sir, but uh, okay good, I could use the workout here. This apron's been
sitting a little tight since quarantine. All right Cara, I think we're good to go.
Thank you.
Give it a little taste, delicious. Now what I like to do is to double strain
into the other half of my shaker tin. At this point this just gets it off the ice and allows
you a little bit more time to kind of add the soda and things without it continuing to dilute.
And so what we can do there is actually just pour a little bit of your chilled soda water
into the small part of your shaker tin before we get it in the glass,
just to loosen everything up and make it easier to pour out, and then pour into your chilled glass.
Let it sit for a second and then slowly pour it some more soda in to raise the
fluffy head above the rim of the glass. This is a total bartender flex and some
of the other YouTube guys have really good hints and tips on how to get it as high as possible,
which you should definitely check out if you're the competitive type.
Add a couple of drops of orange blossom water on the top of your foamy head and then pop in
a straw. If you've shaken hard enough or you've had enough mates to help you out then your straw
should stay kind of straight up in the middle of the glass.
And there you have it, a Ramos Gin Fizz, so now you know.
So you may not need all of those people to help you shake but it's definitely been a fun
one to get that all lined up and let's see how the fruits of our collective labor tastes.
It's so light and frothy. Obviously, like this does have a fair amount of soda water in there um
so it just makes it really kind of refreshing but you've still got that lovely creamy texture
it's kind of it's kind of like what I actually imagine drinking a cloud would taste like,
but in a very good way, a sunshine cloud.
You've got those kind of slight floral notes coming through from the orange blossom and that
little hint of vanilla but nothing really jumps out at you it's just a really nice and cohesive
um you know and again I think just having that quite like
really nice and bright citrus and floral gin, but also nothing it's also not a huge kind of
flavor in here. It all just melts really nicely. You never really think of having a creamy drink on
a hot day but this is definitely something that I want when summer finally comes to Melbourne.
Now we have a couple of dashes of vanilla bean extract. I should actually have opened this first!
(off screen laughs)
Nice
throw. (More laughs)
Happy to help Cara! Happy to help, (ha ha). It's a good catch though.