Ramos Gin Fizz + 3 Years of Garnish!

I'm celebrating! Today Garnish is three years old. I started the blog back in 2015, while I was still in graduate school. My first post was on building a basic home bar. And honestly, it holds up pretty well, except for the inclusion of Punt e Mes as the recommended sweet vermouth. (I love Punt e Mes, but it's more bitter than most vermouths; I'd recommend Carpano Antica Formula or Cocchi Vermouth di Torino now.) Live and learn!

Since that first post, so much has happened that I never expected. For one thing, there are actually people like you out there reading this blog, which in itself is pretty crazy and amazing. My home bar has grown beyond the few bottles in that first post to a ridiculous, sprawling collection that recently spilled over into the neighboring bookcase. I've gotten the opportunity to attend industry events, work with brands, and connect with other cocktail lovers. The biggest surprise has been Instagram - just this month, I hit 10,000 followers, with is insane. It has easily been the best platform for connecting with other home bartenders, and if you're not on there, I highly recommend you check it out.

Like any good celebration, this one calls for a drink! I chose the Ramos Gin Fizz to celebrate this milestone because I always thought of it as the Mt. Everest of cocktails. I tried to make one early on in my home bartending days and failed utterly; my foam was pitifully nonexistent and the flavor was just off. After that I assumed it was a drink that was just beyond my skill level. But no longer! I made a Ramos Gin Fizz. And guess what? You can, too.

The only ingredient in a Ramos Gin Fizz that you might not have on hand is orange flower water. This is a clear liquid distilled from orange blossoms that has a flowery flavor and fragrance. You can find this at many liquor stores or buy it online. You can also skip it if you must. Your Fizz will be lacking that hint of floral flavor that makes it extra special, but it will still be quite tasty.

The other big challenge when making a Ramos Gin Fizz is getting that foam just right. There are a lot of tricks you can employ. A reverse dry shake with a blender ball (see my notes in this recipe) is the best way I've found to get that really nice foam.

Actually, that's a lie. I'll come clean - the best way to get this great foam, and the way that I got the foam in the picture, is with an electric mixer. I know, I know. That must technically be cheating or something. And it creates some bubbles that are a bit too large for most egg white cocktails. But for the Ramos Gin Fizz, which benefits from a big, stiff topping of foam, an electric mixer with a whisk attachment can save your arms some serious work and basically guarantee that you'll get that beautiful drink you're striving for. And if anyone has a problem with that, then tough.

All that mixing and shaking will be worth it, I promise. The Ramos Gin Fizz is a heavenly drink. I've often seen it compared to a Piña Colada, which is sort of bizarre since they don't share a single ingredient in common. I think it's because they both have that perfect combination of creamy, sweet, and sour. The Ramos Gin Fizz just looks and tastes so special, from the magical cap of foam to the hint of orange flower water. It's a cocktail that shouldn't be missed.

History: The Ramos Gin Fizz is a New Orleans classic, so of course it was born there. It was invented by Henry C. Ramos in 1888 at the Imperial Cabinet saloon at the corner of Gravier and Carondelet. He called it a New Orleans Fizz. When he sold his bar and opened a new one right down the street called The Stag in 1907, he took the iconic recipe with him there. It was wildly popular. This was actually something of a problem, because Ramos' recipe required a staggering 12 minutes of shaking. To keep up with demand, he employed an assembly line of "shaker boys" who would each shake the drink for a minute or two so that they didn't become exhausted.

Ramos was actually a supporter of the temperance movement, quite surprising for someone who made a living slinging drinks. He discouraged any kind of drunkenness or misbehavior at his bar, and closed at the respectable hour of eight o'clock. When Prohibition began in 1919, he was quick to shutter The Stag and switch to mixing paint instead of cocktails. He died in 1928.

When Prohibition was lifted, Ramos' son sold the rights to the New Orleans Fizz to the Roosevelt Hotel, which trademarked the new name "Ramos Gin Fizz" in 1935. Their Sazerac Bar remains the most famous place to order one today. It was famously the favorite cocktail of Huey P. Long, who went so far as to fly one of the Roosevelt's bartenders to New York to teach the folks at the New Yorker Hotel how to make the drink properly for him when he was visiting. If you think that sounds a bit silly, you've never seen the bartenders at the Roosevelt make a Ramos Gin Fizz. It's a theatrical production, with white-suited bartenders energetically shaking the drink, performing an impressively high pour, and then doing that final top-up with club soda that causes the foam to almost miraculously rise above the rim of the glass. Ordering one there is a must if you visit New Orleans.

Thank you all so much for reading - here's to another three years! Cheers!

Ramos Gin Fizz

1 1/2 oz. gin (preferably Old Tom)
1 oz simple syrup
1 oz. heavy cream
1 oz. egg white
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. lime juice
3-4 drops orange flower water
2 drops vanilla extract (optional*)
Club soda

Combine all ingredients except club soda in a shaker with ice and shake well to combine. Strain out the ice and return to the shaker, adding a blender ball or spring. Shake very well to froth up the egg whites, 30-60 seconds. Alternatively, transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and blend with an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment for 30 seconds.

Add a dash of club soda to the bottom of a tall Collins glass. Pour in the cocktail, raising the bowl or shaker as you pour to increase the distance between it and the glass - this helps the foam form. Top up the drink with club soda so that the foam rises above the rim of the glass.

*According to Stanley Clisby Arthur in his 1937 book Famous New Orleans Drinks and How To Mix 'Em, "Veteran barkeepers differ violently - practically come to blows - over the inclusion of the two innocent drops of extract of vanilla. Old-timers who worked for Henry Ramos in the past declare the original Ramos included no vanilla in its make-up. Others hold that the twin drops of extract wrung from the heart of the vanilla bean either make or break a real gin fizz - make it taste like heaven or the reverse." I will leave it up to you to decide where you stand on this divisive issue. Since I was having my fizz with a vanilla cupcake, I thought the two drops sounded like a lovely idea.

Recipe adapted from this video and from Famous New Orleans Drinks and How To Mix 'Em. (Note that the stated ounce and a half of orange flower water in the video is clearly a mistake!)

Historical information mostly came from Thrillist, Gin Foundry, Gambino's Bakery, and Famous New Orleans Drinks and How To Mix 'Em.

Bottle Buy: Crème de Cacao

I don't make a lot of desserty cocktails, so a bottle of crème de cacao was never that high on my list of things to buy. Don't get me wrong - I love chocolate. Love it. And I wouldn't say no to a chocolate martini if you handed me one. But it's not really something I'd like to make on a regular basis. So of all the spirits I'd like to buy, I didn't think crème de cacao had much of a place in my bar.

There was a particular cocktail that changed my mind. My husband and I were checking out the tiki bar at Tiger Mama, a funky southeast-Asian inspired restaurant in the Fenway area that opened up a few months ago. While I opted for something appropriately Tiki-themed and served in a coconut, the hubby went straight for a drink called the Flushing - Main Street. The ingredients were so bizarre it seemed they might work: Akashi White Oak Japanese whiskey, dry vermouth, Green Chartreuse, and crème de cacao. We loved it. I'll post the recipe soon so you can try it yourself and see if you agree.

I asked the bartender about the unusual inclusion of crème de cacao in the recipe, and he told me they use the one from Tempus Fugit. This was the first time I'd heard of Tempus Fugit, but it wasn't the last - their Gran Classico and Kina L'Aero d'Or seem to be making their way into drinks at every bar in Boston. All of their labels are gorgeously vintage-styled, and their spirits are excellent. The bartender at Tiger Mama assured me that no other crème de cacao would do. "It's the best," he said. I went on the hunt for it and found it at Liquor Land on Mass Ave. When I asked one of the employees if they had it, he pointed it out to me and added, "It's the best." Okay, then.

If you're like me, when you hear "crème de cacao" you think of a sugary, cheap, Dekuyper-esque liqueur. And that's probably not far off for a lot of brands on the market. John Troia, co-founder of Tempus Fugit Spirits, says the decline of crème de cacao from an elegant liqueur to a sickly sweet bottom-shelf mixer had to do with the rise of the cocktail. When the liqueur was no longer being consumed by itself, it was easier to skimp on quality and make more sugary products with artificial flavoring. But like many classic ingredients, crème de cacao is making a comeback.



Crème de cacao was invented by monks in France in the 16th century. Chocolate was still a pretty new import to Europe at the time, but it never seems to take long for people to figure out how to make booze out of something. It's is not a cream liqueur; it gets its name from its thick, creamy texture. It's made by distilling cacao, otherwise known as cocoa beans. If you're not familiar with where your Hershey's chocolate bar comes from, let me briefly enlighten you: chocolate comes from the seeds of the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, which is native to Central and South America. Its fruits are oval-shaped pods that turn yellow or red when ripe. Inside, there's a sweet white flesh (that actually tastes pretty good on its own, though nothing like chocolate) surrounding the real treasure: the cacao beans. These are fermented, dried, roasted, and cracked open to remove their shells. What's left are what we call cocoa nibs, which are ground up into a paste and mixed with sugar and milk to make chocolate.

If you're making booze instead, you don't have to go through quite that much trouble. Though I'm having a little difficulty finding out the details of the process, it appears that real crème de cacao is made by distilling the raw cocoa beans. The distillate is then macerated with more crushed cacao and vanilla beans. I'm sure sugar is added as well. You may notice that there are "white" and "brown" varieties out there. In the cheaper brands, the brown usually comes from artificial coloring. I guess the goal is to make it look more like the real thing: the brown color of Tempus Fugit's crème de cacao is natural.

The inside of a cacao pod, with the white flesh surrounding the beans.

Tempus Fugit's crème de cacao smells intensely chocolatey, like cocoa powder or a chocolate bar. When you sip it, the first thing you notice is the texture. You understand the "crème" in the name immediately - this stuff is thick and velvety in a completely unexpected way. The flavor is beautiful and rich. Obviously the main taste is chocolate, but there are also strong notes of vanilla and caramel.

I don't normally endorse a single brand, but as far as I know, Tempus Fugit makes the only real quality crème de cacao out there at the moment. You could reach for something cheaper if you want to try it out before you take the plunge, but you'd already be more than halfway to a bottle of really great stuff. If you're not ready to shell out $30 on chocolate liqueur, you could do what a lot of craft cocktail bars are doing and make your own from vodka, cacao nibs, sugar, and vanilla.

Tempus Fugit Crème de Cacao

Price: $30
Alcohol Content: 24%
Popular Cocktails: Brandy Alexander, Grasshopper, Chocolate Martini, 20th Century

Though I've already made a number of other, less sweet cocktails with my bottle of crème de cacao (the Flushing - Main Street was the first one), I thought I should use the classic Brandy Alexander to showcase this spirit. Rich, sweet, slightly chocolatey, and extremely elegant, the Brandy Alexander is an adult's version of the sickly-sweet drinks crème de cacao usually makes its way into. It's the kind of dessert drink I actually could have every night.

There are a few different recipes out there, but I decided I liked using equal parts brandy, crème de cacao, and cream the best. If you don't have cream or half and half (or you want to make a slightly less caloric drink), you can substitute milk. It will be a much lighter, more watery cocktail, but I still like it just fine.

History: The Brandy Alexander is a version of the Alexander, which was originally made with gin, crème de cacao, and cream. It was (probably) invented by Troy Alexander at Rector’s in New York in honor of (somewhat bizarrely) a cartoon woman named Phoebe Snow who was used to advertise clean-burning coal for railroads. Phoebe wore all white, emphasizing just how clean the coal was. For the dinner in her honor, Alexander wanted to make a white cocktail to match. Somewhat incongruously, he named it after himself. This gin Alexander appears in Hugo Ensslin’s 1915 Recipes for Mixed Drinks.

An advertisement featuring Phoebe Snow in her white dress.

As for when the gin became popularly replaced by brandy, no one was is really sure. It may have something to do with the royal wedding of Princess Mary. Mary was the daughter of George V and the sister of two kings, Edward VIII, who abdicated, and George VI, who is famously portrayed by Colin Firth in The King’s Speech. In 1922, she married Viscount Henry Lascelles, and the Brandy Alexander was supposedly created in their honor.

Brandy Alexander

1 oz. brandy or Cognac
1 oz. crème de cacao
1 oz. cream, half and half, or milk

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake until chilled and frothy. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with grated nutmeg.