Gin Fizz: The Ultimate Guide

The Gin Fizz is a classic fizzy sour cocktail made with gin, lemon and sweetener, combined with soda water and an optional egg white or aquafaba to create the characteristic frothy consistency and foamy head effect.

The Gin Fizz is in the family of fizz cocktails, along with the famous Ramos Gin Fizz, Sloe Gin Fizz and Tom Collins.

What does a Gin Fizz taste like?

The Gin Fizz is a refreshing and bright cocktail that tastes both sweet and tart from the combination of citrus and simple syrup, with botanical notes from the gin base spirit, a light sparkle from the soda, and velvety texture from an optional egg white.

When do you drink a Gin Fizz?

The Gin Fizz can be enjoyed at any time, but it is the perfect summer, brunch or afternoon drink, because it is very light, bubbly and fresh.

Ingredients

The Gin Fizz cocktail contains gin, lemon, simple syrup, soda water and an optional egg white, which can be substituted with a vegan alternative like aquafaba.

There are 6 ingredients needed to mix a Gin Fizz cocktail:

1. Gin –  1½ oz (45ml)
2. Lemon Juice (fresh) – 1 oz (30ml)
3. Simple Syrup – 1/3 oz (10ml)
4. Soda Water – a splash or to taste (chilled)
5. (Optional) Egg White – 1 egg white; or 1 oz (30ml) of vegan aquafaba
6. Lemon wedge, slice, peel strip, or zest (to garnish)
7. Ice for shaking

The International Bar Association, IBA, recommends that the Gin Fizz cocktail is made without the egg white and only contains gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and soda water.

Substitutes

The Gin Fizz ingredients can be adjusted to make the cocktail more or less sour, sweet, creamy, frothy, fizzy or boozy.

• Lemon Substitutes

The lemon can be substituted with lime, which works particularly well with dry and juniper-forward gins. Alternatively, you can also use a lemon-flavored sparkling beverage.

• Sweetener Substitutes

The simple syrup can be replaced with maple syrup or superfine sugar. Sour mix can replace the citrus juice and simple syrup. Also, you can use sweetened lemon-flavored sparkling bewerage in the cocktail to complement or substitute both the lemon and the sweetener components.

• Soda Substitutes

Make your own soda water for a Gin Fizz at home, instead of buying it from a shop, using a SodaStram, a great soda-makeing gadget.

• Egg Substitutes

For a vegan alternative, the egg white can be substituted with aquafaba, which is a liquid made from chickpeas or other pulses that creates a foaming effect very similar to an egg white. The egg white can be replaced by an egg yolk (called a “Golden Fizz”) or a whole egg (“Royal Fizz”)

Vegan No-Egg Gin Fizz

The egg whites in a Gin Fizz work with the carbonation from the soda to give the drink its frothy texture with luscious creamy mouthfeel as well as the characteristic foam top. For that purpose, the egg in a Gin Fizz can be replaced by aquafaba, which is a liquid from cooked chickpeas or other pulses, used as a vegan replacement for egg whites in cocktails.

What is the best gin for Gin Fizz?

The best gin to use in Gin Fizz is a mid-priced bottle of any style, from the classics–like London Dry Gin or Hendrick’s–to artisanal gins from regional distilleries. The better the gin, the better the Gin Fizz, because it is the only base spirit that the entire drink stands on.

The Gin Fizz is a versatile and adaptable mixed drink that does not need a particular style of gin or an expensive top-shelf bottle, and is well suited for experimentation with different gin brands, where each concoction will produce a slightly different flavor profile.

In any case, don’t skimp on the gin, as the Gin Fizz will only taste as good as the gin you invest in.

Tools

To make a Gin Fizz, you will need a jigger for measuring, a cocktail shaker and strainer to shake the cocktail, a highball glass for serving, and an optional citrus juicer.

• Jigger
• Cocktail shaker
• Strainer
• Highball glass
• Citrus juicer (optional)

Recipe: How do you make a Gin Fizz?

3 Steps to make a Gin Fizz

1. Dry-shake–without ice–gin, lemon juice, sweetener, and egg white or aquafaba.
2. When the egg starts to foam, add ice, and shake again.
3. Top up with soda water in a tall serving glass without ice.

Directions

The Gin Fizz is made to maximize the frothiness of the drink and minimize its dilution at every step of the cocktail-mixing process:

1. Step 1: Pour all ingredients except for soda water into a shaker without ice –  gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg white or a vegan aquafaba substitute.
2. Step 2: Dry-shake without ice for approximately 15 seconds to ensure the egg white is thoroughly incorporated into the other ingredients and starts to foam.
3. Step 3: Add ice cubes into the shaker and shake vigorously until the mixture is properly chilled (approximately 30 seconds). This not only cools the drink but also further builds up the foam.
4. Step 4: Double-strain into a chilled serving glass without ice, to avoid excessive dilution that would disturb the flavor profile and frothy texture of the drink.
5. Step 5: Top with soda water to create a frothy head.
6. Step 6: Garnish with lemon, lime and/or mint.

Gin Fizz can also be made by a reverse dry shaking method, which is the opposite of the dry shake that some believe produces a more frothy drink, where you first shake all ingredients except for the soda water with ice, then strain the ice out, and finally shake again for the second time without ice. Alternatively, you could use a variation of the reverse dry shake that uses only a little bit of ice that is shaken until it fully dissolves, this is called a whip shake.

Glass

The Gin Fizz is a long drink served in a tall and narrow tumbler glass with a capacity of 10-15oz or 300-450ml, like a Highball glass or a Collins glass. Alternatively, the cocktail can also be presented in a smaller glass, like a rocks glass, because the drink is served without ice. However, a taller glass better displays the fizzy nature of the drink.

Garnish

The Gin Fizz is garnished with a wedge, slice, half or quarter wheel, peel strip, twist or zest from a lemon or a lime. Some Gin Fizz recipes also garnish with a mint sprig.

Prep Time

It takes about 5 minutes to prepare a Gin Fizz cocktail.

The History of Gin Fizz

The first printed reference to a Fizz (spelled “fiz” at that time) appeared in the “The Bartenders Guide” by Jerry Thomas at the end of the 19th century (1876-1887), which included more than one fizz recipe (allegedly as many as six).

In America, the Fizz gained mass popularity in the first half of the 20th century (1900-1940).

For example, some bars in New Orleans, the home of the famous Ramos Gin Fizz variation, would employ teams of bartenders to work in shifts to shake the fizzes.

In Europe, a Fizz was included in the French cookbook L’Art Culinaire Francais published in 1950.

Variants of Gin Fizz

There are a number of other famous drinks in the fizz family that you should try if you enjoy the Gin Fizz.

The 12 most popular variations on the Gin Fizz cocktail:

1. Classic Gin Fizz: Gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, soda water, and an optional egg white or aquafaba.
2. Silver Fizz is another name for a Gin Fizz cocktail made with an egg white.
3. Golden Fizz is a Gin Fizz cocktail variation that replaces an egg white with an egg yolk.
4. Royal Fizz is a Gin Fizz cocktail recipe variation that uses a whole egg instead of just an egg white.
5. Ramos Gin Fizz is a Gin Fizz cocktail variation that adds orange flower water, cream and lime into the recipe, as well as about 10 minutes of extra shaking time, which is optional but produces a very frothy drink with a high foamy top.
6. Sloe Gin Fizz is a Gin Fizz cocktail riff that replaces gin with sloe gin and may skip the egg white.
7. Tom Collins: Tom Collins is served on ice, whereas Gin Fizz is served without ice and it also often contains an egg white. Traditionally, the “Tom” in Tom Collins refers to Old Tom gin.
8. John Collins: John Collins is a Gin Fizz that contains more generous amount of simple syrup (1/2oz or 15ml instead of 1/3oz or 10ml) and soda water (2oz/60ml instead of just a splash).
9. Diamond Fizz is a Gin Fizz cocktail variation that replaces the soda with sparkling wine like Prosecco.
10. Green Fizz is a Gin Fizz cocktail variation that adds green creme de menthe into the recipe.
11. Morning Glory Fizz is a cocktail that swaps the gin in a Gin Fizz recipe with scotch whisky and absinthe.
12. Gin Sour is a cocktail that skips the soda in a Gin Fizz recipe.

What alcohol is in a Fizz?

A Fizz cocktail can be made with any non-alcoholic or alcoholic beverage, including gin (Gin Fizz), sparkling wine (Diamond Fizz), creme de menthe (Green Fizz), or scotch and absinthe (Morning Glory).

Alternatives to Gin Fizz

Similar cocktails to Gin Fizz include:

• Sour foam-topped cocktails: Boston Sour, Pisco Sour
• Gin cocktails: Gin Gimlet, Hanky Panky, Gin & Tonic
• Tangy cocktails: Margarita

Gin Fizz

Try the Gin Fizz - a classic fizzy sour cocktail made with gin, lemon and sweetener, combined with soda water and an optional egg white or vegan aquafaba that create the characteristic frothy consistency and foamy head effect.

Total Time 7 minutes mins

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Equipment

• 1 Measuring jigger
• 1 Cocktail shaker
• 1 Strainer
• 1 Highball glass
• 1 Citrus juicer (optional)

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1½ oz Gin
• 1 oz Lemon juice (fresh)
• ⅓ oz Simple syrup
• 1 splash Soda water (splash or to taste)
• 1 piece Egg white (or vegan aquafaba; optional)
• Ice cubes (for shaking)
• Lemon (for garnish)

Instructions

 

• Shake all ingredients except for soda water in a cocktail shaker with ice.
• Strain into a chilled serving glass without ice.
• Top with soda water to create a frothy head.
• Garnish with lemon.

Nutrition

Calories: 145kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 3gFat: 0.1gSaturated Fat: 0.01gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.01gSodium: 56mgPotassium: 85mgFiber: 0.1gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 2IUVitamin C: 11mgCalcium: 5mgIron: 0.4mg

Calories: 145kcal

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: Cocktail

Keyword: gin, gin fizz