Mandarine Fizz

What a nice fruity cocktail for a hot day! I was pleasantly surprised, though I shouldn't have been, at how good fresh mandarin juice tastes in a fizzy gin drink. This cocktail bursts with fruit and spice, but is juicy and light for summer drinking.

As I've said before, I can't get Mandarine Napoleon in Virginia, but I made it using my own recipe and, even if it isn't a perfect knock off of the original, it is pretty good stuff all the same. Together with Monkey 47 gin, there's a bright spicy kick behind that refreshing juice and soda.

• 1 oz. dry gin (Monkey 47 used)
• 1 oz. Mandarine Napoleon (homemade recipe used)
• 2 oz. mandarin orange juice
• 1/2 oz. sugar syrup
• club soda
• mandarin orange slice

Combine sugar syrup, juice and spirits in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into a chilled highball glass. Top with soda and stir. Garnish with the orange slice. 

Summer Fizz (and DIY Strawberry Liqueur)

This is a fun drink that I imagine would be great for outdoor sipping in the summer. If only it was warm enough this spring...and we weren't social distancing. Sadly, no pool drinks in the foreseeable future. 

You can use any whiskey you choose, and I recommend Irish or Canadian for their lightness and the fact that they are blended for swift drinking. The heavy portion of grapefruit juice needs a sweet cordial for balance. That's where strawberry liqueur comes in.

There are a number of strawberry flavored cordials on the market. I quickly made this rum-based one using Vitae's platinum rum infused with strawberries while I folded in some strawberry syrup I made on the stove.

DIY Strawberry Liqueur
To make this take a cup of any white rum and soak six cored strawberries in it for three days. Take an

additional six berries and add them to 1/2 cup of white sugar and water. Heat these to boil and stir until the sugar dissolves. Mash the berries while they are hot to make a jam and allow it to cool. Strain the fruit from the syrup and fold it into the strawberry rum. Bottle it in something that seals. It should keep for six months refrigerated.

Now for the cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz. blended whiskey (Proper Twelve used)
• 3 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1 tsp. strawberry liqueur (Homemade Vitae based used)
• club soda

Combine all ingredients except club soda in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and stir gently. 

Derby Fizz

A Fizz is such a delicious and refreshing way to tipple. It is strong, light tasting, and it has a richness that clings without using cream. Its best to down it without a straw so that you have to drink through the copious amounts of foam. 

I like this recipe, commemorating the Kentucky Derby. It's unusual in two ways: one, it is made with whiskey; two, it uses the whole egg. curacao is a nice touch for flavor and brightness. 

The recipe doesn't specify bourbon, but you certainly can do that. The point is you have to use American whiskey to get that vanilla and oak flavor. I felt that MurLarkey's Heritage whiskey was appropriately southern and all-American. 

• 1 1/2 oz. whiskey (MurLarkey Heritage used. American preferred)
• 1 tsp. curacao
• 1 tsp. sugar syrup
• 1 egg
• club soda

Combine all ingredients except soda in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain out the ice and shake again to create foam. Pour into a chilled Collins glass and pour soda until the foam rises just above the top of the glass. 

Cagnes-Sur-Mer

Believe it or not, this cocktail belongs to the race track family of drinks. Cagnes Sur Mer is the motorway in Fance where the Monaco Grand Prix is held. This long drink is full of citrus flavors from curacao and Forbidden Fruit. I've extolled the exotic virtues of Forbidden Fruit in many of my posts, (in this drink it lends a sweet grapefruit flavor to the orange juice) but this time the unusual ingredient is the Vitae Orange Liqueur that I used in place of the curacao.

This cocktail is good to drink in hot weather. It has a fresh gin flavor with refreshing juice and citrus liqueurs. The sweetness comes from the honey and cognac in Forbidden Fruit and it all comes together with orange bitters and soda.

• 1 1/2 oz. gin (MurLarkey ImaGination gin used)
• 1/2 oz. Forbidden Fruit (Homemade recipe used)
• 1/2 oz. curacao (Vitae orange liqueur used)
• 2 oz. orange juice
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• several dashes orange bitters (Hella used)
• club soda
• orange slice

Combine the first six ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled Collins glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and stir gently. Garnish with an orange slice. 

Danish Gin Fizz

Cherry Heering, originating in Denmark, makes this Fizz "Danish." The kirschwasser, however is German. And despite that kirsh and Heering are both cherry flavor, the latter is sweetened while the former is dry and made from distilled fermented cherry juice.

This cocktail is rich and colorful--a good spring weather sipper. Fans of Collins or Singapore Slings will appreciate the similarity.

• 1 1/2 oz. gin (MurLarkey ImaGination used
• 3/4 oz. cherry Heering
• 1/4 oz. kirsch (Kammer Kirsch used)
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/ 2 oz. sugar syrup
• club soda
• lime slice

Combine the first five ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a Collins glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and stir. Garnish with the lime slice. 

New Orleans Gin Fizz

If you are drinking a Fizz made with half-and-half and an egg white and someone throws a plastic bead necklace at you, you must be in New Orleans. That's how it works, right?

New Orleans is a cocktail Mecca known for taking cocktail a little farther than the standard ingredients usually indicate. In this case it is an extra tart helping of lemon and lime juice. The astounding thing about this is that this much citrus should curdle the cream, except that the egg white is designed to keep the drink tart and dry and add to a creamy fizz that tastes impossible: New Orleans makes the impossible happen.

• 2 oz. gin (MurLarkey ImaGination gin used)
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 tsp. sugar syrup
• 1/2 oz. half-and-half
• 1 egg white
• sparkling water
• lime slice

Combine all ingredients except sparkling water and lime slice in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then remove the ice and shake again to add foam. Strain into a chilled Collins glass full of ice and top with soda before garnishing with the lime slice.

Georgia Peach Fizz

Here comes another Fizz variation, this one is a mash up of a Brandy Fizz and a Georgia Peach. I used Bird Dog peach whiskey here instead of peach brandy, which is a fine substitution. Most peach brandy is flavored brandy, not a brandy made from peaches, so the flavor is mostly the same.

Strangely, and very fitting in a culinary sense, creme de bananes is also in the recipe. Which is fine. I love that banana can add richness without tasting like a different fruit. My change is to use MurLarkey banana whiskey--probably their most versatile flavored whiskey. The rest is typical Fizz ingredients, lemon, soda and sugar.

• 2 oz. brandy (Christian Brothers VSOP used)
• 1 oz. peach brandy (Bird Dog Peach Whiskey used)
• 1 tbsp. creme de bananes (MurLarkey banana whiskey used)
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. sugar syrup
• sparkling water
• peach slice

Combine liquors, lemon juice and sugar syrup in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and pour into a chilled Collins glass. Top with sparkling water and stir gently. Garnish with the peach slice.  

Grand Royal Fizz

Now that I'm focusing on Fizzes right now, there's no reason not to do the Grand Royal Fizz. It's been so hot and a Fizz, even a creamy one, will cool you down and relax your brain quickly. This Fizz differs from many others by having no egg. Instead there is half-and-half and orange juice. I fresh squeezed all the juice for this drink so it was amazingly fresh tasting!

• 2 oz. gin (ImaGination gin used) 
• 1 tsp. maraschino liqueur
• 1 1/2 oz. orange juice
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. half-and-half
• sparkling water (Perrier used)

Combine all ingredients except sparkling water in a shaker with ice. (Hint: add half-and-half last to avoid allowing it to curdle in the citrus.) Shake and strain into a chilled highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with sparkling water and stir gently. 

Golden Fizz

The Golden Fizz fits in the spectrum of Fizz cocktails exactly where the word "golden" typically applies. Silver Fizzes have egg white. Golden ones have the yolk. And since lime is the citrus here, i'm guessing the lemon slice garnish is really about aesthetics more than flavor.

You have to use an interesting gin here to stand up to the citrus (lime juice) and that funky thickness of egg yolk that can take on a smell of its own if your gin doesn't add flavor to it.

Here's MurLarkey ImaGination--a deep and satisfying gin with 12 botanicals that take charge of your tongue throughout the sip.

• 2 1/2 oz. gin (MurLarkey ImaGination used)
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• sparkling water (Parrier used)
• lemon slice

Combine all ingredients except sparkling water and lemon slice in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill and strain out the ice. Shake again to add foam and pour into a chilled highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with sparkling water, stir gently and garnish with the lemon slice.

Silver Stallion

This is the strangest Fizz I've ever seen. It's blended, it includes ice cream, it is packed with lime juice too! And it is also so good, I can't even describe that tangy frozen cream flavor.

I wondered a bit about going full-flavored with the gin selection. With Copper Fox Vir Gin you could have a real flavor bomb of a creamy Fizz. But usually when gin and cream are involved, I err on the side of mellowness. So Filibuster Dual Cask gin gets my vote. It has oak and really subdued botanicals. They don't stick out or draw your attention when you are enjoying a dessert drink. I wouldn't use it in a majority of Fizzes where it gets lost against so much citrus, but here it was quite good.

• 2 oz. gin (Filibuster Dual Cask used)
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream
• sparkling water

Combine all ingredients in a blender with ice. Blend until thick and smooth and pour into a chilled highball glass. 

Apricot Fizz

This is a basic Fizz recipe using my homemade apricot brandy that I made at work. It's probably the best spirit infusion I've made because it tastes like ripe apricots and the cheapness of the brandy is completely fixed. Now it tastes like fine cognac spirit.

You can pretty much do a Fizz with anything, so it stands to reason that apricot brandy would work well. The whole recipe seems designed to make it easy to do for bar service with minimal tools and ingredients, with sugar syrup and stirring. There's no egg in this drink, but you could do that...[plans for the future].

• 2 oz. apricot brandy
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. sugar syrup
• sparkling water
• lemon peel

Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and stir again. Twist the lemon peel on top.

Havana Banana Fizz

It's very rare when a Fizz is also a blended cocktail. It is even rarer when the drink involves real banana and Peychaud's bitters. This wild combination comes together brilliantly in the Havana Banana Fizz, which is just so much fun to say.

Tips for this drink include using a tall glass, like the one pictured in the New York Bartender's Guide and not the Old Fashioned Glass that the recipe calls for. Inconsistencies like these are more common than you would think, as I can attest to having done most of the recipes in the 1997 edition.

The other tip is to use more ice than you think you will need and to make sure to chill that bottle of bitter lemon soda. Mine was Perrier lemon, in case you were wondering. I forgot to include it in the photo.

• 2 oz. light rum (Buzzard Point colonial style rum used)
• 2 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 3-5 dashes Peychaud's bitters
• 1/5 banana sliced
• bitter lemon soda (Perrier lemon used)

Combine all ingredients except lemon soda in a blender with cracked ice. Blend until slushy and pour into a chilled highball glass (about half way) and top with lemon soda then stir. 

Diamond Fizz

The Diamond Fizz is pretty similar to the London French 75 except that it is served long and on the rocks. The concept is the same. I think that the cocktail is good simply because it is stronger than you  expect, which may be why it rates as a "diamond." It is also sparkly.

I picked Hendrick's gin for no other reason than it's diamond-shaped label, but it did help to class up this cocktail a bit. The sparkling wine, this dry Circova, is really the dominant flavor though. It almost doesn't come across as a gin drink anyway. It is like a sparkling lemonade with a huge punch.

• 2 oz. gin (Hendrick's used)
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. sugar
• sparkling wine (Circova used)

Combine gin, lemon juice and sugar in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled highball or Collins glass full of fresh ice. Top with sparkling wine and stir gently.

Silver Fizz

There are many Fizzes out there. Most are gin and soda drinks and a lot of them use egg in some form to get a head of foam on them. Almost all the Gin Fizzes in the New York Bartender's Guide are served on ice, though this wasn't always the norm back in the busy heydays of the Fizz cocktail.

The thing to remember here is that gin used to be the main clear spirit and as such it didn't always have the extremely spicy characteristics of liquors we have now. Most had only a few botanicals, mainly juniper, and left it at that. Filibuster Dual Cask gin is great for a pre-Prohibition style gin with a smooth character. It makes for an extremely creamy Silver Fizz--a cocktail named after the fact that it is made with egg whites.

• 3 oz. gin (Filibuster dual cask used)
• 1 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp. sugar
• sparkling water (San Pelligrino used)

Combine all ingredients except sparkling water in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain out the liquid into another glass to remove the ice. Shake again vigorously to create foam and pour into a highball glass full (or half full) of fresh ice. Top with sparkling water and stir gently. 

Bird of Paradise

This is a pretty simple gin fizz drink that, with a little color, masquerades as a tiki cocktail. Serving it in a tall glass accentuates the bold color of the grenadine used to sweeten this cocktail. It looks like it could be a jungle bird.

Homemade grenadine means that the flavor is drier than it would be if you used Rose's grenadine. That's not a bad thing, but it lacks the color that is sometimes desirable from Rose's.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. grenadine (2 tsp. recommended if using homemade grenadine)
• 1 egg white
• sparkling water

Combine all ingredients except sparkling water in a shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and pour into a chilled highball glass. Top with sparkling water and stir gently. 

Gin Daisy

The Daisy is a sweet grenadine and lemon fizz drink. The booze you use is up to you, so it is named after the choice of liqueur. Everyone loves a Daisy, it's stronger than it looks with 3 ounces of hard liquor. The gin version is more approachable than other ones.

• 3 oz. gin
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tbsp. grenadine
• 1 tsp. sugar syurp
• sparkling water
• orange slice

Combine gin, lemon juice and syrups in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled Collins glass. Top with sparkling water and stir. Garnish with an orange slice.

Ninteen Pick-Me-Up

One of the most spicy and bitter Fizz drinks I've ever tried. The recipe calls for a ton of bitters, more Pernod than is usually healthy, and a little gin to give the ingredients room. This might be a great hangover drink as the words "Pick-Me-Up" imply. And I can see the appeal of so much flavor as well as fizz.

Being a Pernod drink with lots of anise flavor makes this drink related to the Nineteen, a spicy "up" drink. This was stronger, though, and soda helps push the alcohol along and make it easily crushable.

• 2 oz. Pernod
• 1 oz. gin
• 1/4 tsp. sugar syrup
• 3-5 dashes orange bitters
• 3-5 dashes Angostura bitters
• club soda

Combine all ingredients except soda in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a Collins glass filled with fresh ice. Top with soda and stir gently.

Royal Gin Fizz

More special than the Gin Fizz and thicker and less floral than the Ramos Gin Fizz, the Royal Gin Fizz has a whole raw egg in it to make it thick and silky. Its a perfect drink for the Easter season. A light and floral gin like Sunset Hills from Fredericksburg, VA, just tastes like spring.

I use organic, cage-free eggs to get the rich yellow color. These eggs have a harder shell and a flavor and texture that holds up better to the changes that take place in drink form.

• 2 oz. gin (Sunset Hills used)
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 whole egg
• 1 tsp. sugar
• club soda

To get this great foam top I shake all ingredients except the soda very hard with no ice. Then I add ice and shake hard again. Pour into a Collins glass and top with soda. Stir gently so as not to disturb the foam.

Derbey Fizz

There's a few Derby cocktails out there, but I don't think these have anything to do with Kenducky, or else I'd see bourbon in this drink. This whole egg fizz is unique in that it uses scotch and doesn't just ask for the egg white. I chose a kolsh glass simply because I needed the space for all the ingredients, and that whole egg was pretty big.

The effect of this cocktail is a silky and fizzy taste that pairs peaty scotch and triple sec very well. It is definitely a dessert drink, but the lemon and triple sec keep it light and easy to sip.

I'm not going to recommend doing this cocktail over other fizzes, but as a member of the fizz category, I think it is valuable and proves the point that eggs are important in changing the texture of a cocktail, even a fizzy one. A whole egg changes the color as well, and gives a drink a thickness that cream cannot match, especially when mixed with lemon juice.

• 2 oz. scotch
• 1 whole egg
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. triple sec
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• sparkling water

Combine all ingredients except sparkling water in a shaker and shake until foamy. Add ice and shake again to chill. Strain over fresh ice in a highball glass, top with sparkling water and stir.

Gin Smash

The Gin Smash is probably the most simple of smashes, involving the muddling of only mint (the most common smash ingredient.) The Sadie Smash and the Scotch Smash have more going on. Mint makes the gin cocktail taste a lot like a Mint Julep and the preparation of it is pretty much the same.

• 3 oz. gin
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 oz. sparkling water
• 4 mint sprigs
• lemon twist

In an Old Fashioned glass muddle mint leaves, sugar and sparkling water to release the mint aromas and dissolved the sugar. Add ice and gin and stir until ingredients are well mixed. Garnish with lemon twist.