October 2020 |

Ramos Gin Fizz| A Riff on the classic cocktail with Botanical Rum & Cardamom Simple Syrup

by corrie.pennington / October 12, 2020

This Ramos Gin Fizz is made with cardamom syrup in lieu of regular simple syrup and swaps the gin for botanical rum. It's a classic cocktail that takes extra time to whip up... but it's well worth it.

Today’s recipe is a variation of the infamous Ramos Gin Fizz. This version is made with botanical rum instead of gin and cardamom simple syrup for a warm, earthy touch. You can’t go wrong with the traditional recipe though. Both versions are creamy and slightly sweet. Try them both and see what you prefer!

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like!

Here’s an unofficial disclosure: this cocktail recipe may be a little difficult to achieve, but it is well worth the effort. The Ramos Gin Fizz is known for being one of the more complicated cocktails to create. The ingredients are very accessible, which is good. A Ramos Gin Fizz just requires a LOT of shaking, special pouring, and a few extra steps. But if you made any cocktail with egg white before (like a classic Whiskey Sour, Gin Campari Sour, or a New York Sour) then you’re ready to tackle this cocktail recipe.

The Ramos Gin Fizz has been around for more than 100 years. Yup. 132 years, to be exact. It was created by a guy named Henry Ramos in 1888 in New Orleans, Louisiana. In fact, according to the article that Gin Foundry wrote about this classic cocktail, it was originally dubbed The New Orleans Fizz. The drink was so popular that the bar hired “shaker boys” who would form a line, all taking turns to shake the cocktail shaker.

There are a few different techniques to make this drink. I tried the instructions listed on Difford’s Guide and I also tried the ones in the Gin Foundry article I listed above. They both produced good results. No shaker boys needed.

The traditional Ramos Gin Fizz calls for traditional simple syrup (1:1 sugar to water ratio) but I opted to use some cardamom simple syrup. It’s so easy to make– just through a few spoons of cardamom pods into simple syrup. If you’re unfamiliar with cardamom, it is one of the key flavors in chai tea. It’s got a warm, slightly earthy flavor that’s quite distinctive but not too overpowering.

This classic cocktail is served in a Collins glass or a highball glass in order to showcase the beautiful foam the drink is famous for. Usually, I’d say you can serve your cocktail in whatever glass suits your fancy, but I recommend following tradition here.

The Ramos Gin Fizz may be extra work but it’s a classic that every home bartender should try shaking up at least once in their life. If you do try making one of these, tag me on Instagram!

Ingredients for a Ramos Gin Fizz

2 oz gin (or botanical rum)
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz lime juice
3/4 oz half and half
3/4 oz simple syrup or cardamom simple syrup (here’s the easy recipe)
3 drops vanilla extract
3 drops orange blossom water
1 egg white
club soda (I love Regatta’s soda)

How to Make a Ramos Gin Fizz

**If you use a metal cocktail shaker** place it in the freezer to chill it or shake some ice cubes in it for a few seconds. This is done to ensure that the metal will contract and form a tight seal for when we do a “dry shake” (shaking without ice) with the ingredients. If you attempt to do a dry shake in a metal cocktail shaker without first chilling it, it’s gonna leak everywhere.

Add all of the ingredients except the club soda to a chilled cocktail shaker. Do not add ice. This is what’s called a “dry shake”. Shake vigorously for as long as you can, 45-60 seconds would be amazing. It still might leak a bit, so you may want to do this over a sink. Add ice and shake again, 45-60 seconds.

Have your empty Collins glass ready. Strain the cocktail shaker into the glass while simultaneously slowly pouring the club soda. Pour from a higher-than-usual distance for optimum foam-age. Stop when the glass is full.

Place the glass into the freezer for 1 minute. The time allows for the foam to start separating from the rest of the drink and the cold temperature helps it stiffen a bit. Take the glass out and slowly pour more club soda into the center of the foam, again from a high distance. The foam should start to rise above the glass. Stop when the foam is about an inch or two above the glass.

Serve with a straw and an optional orange slice or lemon peel.

Ramos Gin Fizz

A classic cocktail made with citrus and cream.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 mins

Course Drinks

Servings 1

Equipment

cocktail shaker

Ingredients

2 oz gin (I used botanical rum for a twist)
½ oz lemon juice
½ oz lime juice
¾ oz simple syrup (I used cardamom simple syrup- here's the easy recipe)
¾ oz half & half or heavy cream
3 drops vanilla extract
3 drops orange blossom water
1 egg white
club soda

Instructions

Add all of the ingredients except the club soda to a chilled cocktail shaker*. Do not add ice. This is what's called a "dry shake". Shake vigorously for as long as you can, 60+ seconds would be amazing. It might leak a bit, so you may want to shake over a sink.
Add ice and shake again, 60+ seconds. The more you shake, the denser your foam will be.
Have your empty Collins glass ready. Strain the cocktail shaker into the glass while simultaneously slowly pouring the club soda. Pour from a higher-than-usual distance for optimum foam-age. Stop when the glass is full.
Place the glass into the freezer for 1 minute. The time allows for the foam to start separating from the rest of the drink and the cold temperature helps it stiffen a bit.
Take the glass out and slowly pour more club soda into the center of the foam, again from a high distance. The foam should start to rise above the glass. Stop when the foam is about an inch or two above the glass.
Serve with a straw and an optional orange slice or lemon peel.

Notes

*If you use a metal cocktail shaker, place it in the freezer to chill it or shake some ice cubes in it for a few seconds. This is done to ensure that the metal will contract and form a tight seal for when we do a “dry shake” (shaking without ice) with the ingredients. If you attempt to do a dry shake in a metal cocktail shaker without first chilling it, it’s gonna leak everywhere.

Keyword botanical rum, club soda, cream, egg white, half and half, lemon, lemon juice, lime, lime juice, orange blossom water, ramos gin fizz, vanilla extract

campari

The Allomancer| A Bright & Bitter Orange Cocktail inspired by the Mistborn Series

by corrie.pennington / October 9, 2020

The Allomancer cocktail is made with orange liqueur, Campari, cara cara orange juice, and Brighter blood orange apple cider vinegar tonic. The name comes from the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson.

The Allomancer cocktail is a Girl & Tonic original recipe made with blood orange Brighter tonic, Campari, orange liqueur, and cara cara orange. The Mistborn series was the inspiration for this cocktail’s name. Fair warning that today’s post may be a touch nerdy.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I’ll receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like!

I love books. But I’m a terrible reader. It’s not that I can’t read well, I just read slowwwlyy. I don’t skim– I take in every word and use them to create elaborate scenes in my head… then often have to reread for the plot because I’m so busy thinking about what everything would look like. This is why I both love and loathe fantasy books. Fantasy writers are known for their incredible descriptiveness and their abilities to create different worlds and universes where their stories take place. My imagination runs wild with all this information but that also means it takes me for-ev-er to finish a fantasy book.

My husband is an avid reader and can knock out a phonebook-sized tome in a matter of days. He loves fantasy, too, and has burned through so many series that I can’t keep track. (We have two tall bookcases that are 3 books deep. Yep. Each shelf has 3 rows of books on it. Take that in for a second.) So when he tells me I would love a series, I trust him. But as a mom, online ESL teacher, and cocktail blogger, I don’t have the luxury of time. That’s why I thank & bless the inventors of audiobooks–otherwise, I’d have no chance to escape to a fantasy universe.

The Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson has been every bit as incredible as my husband had said it would be. We’re currently halfway through the first Mistborn trilogy and I love it. One of the things I love the most about it is that the magic system is so unique. Allomancy is far from the typical magic that a wizard or mage would use.

Instead of casting spells or using wands or staffs to zap stuff, allomancers (people who have the ability to use allomancy) “burn” or draw upon the powers found in metals. Different metals produce different effects: burning tin enhances the senses, burning zinc and brass enable the allomancer to manipulate peoples’ emotions, pewter increases physical strength, and steel and iron give one the ability to push away from and pull themselves towards other metals, essentially enabling these allomancers to zip through the air from building to building. Pretty cool.

There are several more metals but I’ll stop there since I assume most of you reading this out there aren’t fantasy nerds like myself. Not every allomancer can burn every metal. In fact, the majority of allomancers can only burn one. These individuals are called Mistings. A rare few can burn ALL of the metals and these are the Mistborn. There’s a whole thing about the mists, too, but again, I’ll stop myself. I honestly could create a whole cocktail series based on this book. And maybe one day I will. But for now, this Allomancer cocktail will stand alone.

The Allomancer cocktail is both bright and bitter, a perfect balance between the two. It also has a lower alcohol content because I used two liqueurs and no liquors in this recipe. Campari, an Italian red liqueur, is known for its bitter bite and orange liqueur is known for its ability to sweeten up cocktails. I love bitter orange and thought I’d merge the two and see how it worked. I’m probably a little biased, but I think it worked well.

I’d also been wanting to create a cocktail recipe that could highlight the divine flavors of Brighter‘s sparkling blood orange apple cider vinegar tonic. I’m a huge fan of Brighter and used their lemon-lime flavor in my Mother’s Garden cocktail/mocktail not too long ago. It’s taken me a while to finally decide, but the blood orange flavor is my favorite. I knew I had to do it justice. If blood oranges were in season now, I would’ve used them to accentuate that flavor but since they’re not, I used cara cara orange juice to add some more freshness to the drink.

If you make the Allomancer cocktail or if you’re a fan of the Mistborn series too, let me know in the comments or in a DM over on my Instagram page. Cocktail lovers and fantasy nerds are both my kinda people.

Ingredients for the Allomancer Cocktail

3/4 oz Campari or other bitter Italian liqueur
3/4 oz orange liqueur
1/2 oz orange juice, freshly squeezed
3 + oz blood orange Brighter tonic (sub blood orange kombucha if you can’t find Brighter near you)

How to Make an Allomancer

Add ice, Campari, orange liqueur, and fresh orange juice to a cocktail shaker. Shake. Strain into a champagne flute. Top off the rest of the glass with the blood orange Brighter tonic. Garnish with an orange peel.