Gin Fizz – Recipe from David Embury’s ‘The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks’

 1 tablespoon sugar syrup

Juice of 1 medium sized lemon

1 ½ jiggers of Gin

Shake vigorously with crushed ice for several minutes and strain into pre-chilled 8-ounce glass. Fizz up with a siphon of charged water, stirring continuously as water is added. In this and practically all other Fizzes, lime juice or a combination of lime and lemon juice may be used in place of lemon.

Embury has two whole pages on the Gin Fizz and its cousins, and the difference between a Fizz and a Collin’s. Over the years I’ve been taught that this one is stirred while that one isn’t, and several other non-sensical variations of rules behind the two. The truth is that you can probably get away with serving the same drink for both bar calls, which makes it even trickier to split the two. Simply put, a Fizz should be served in a smaller glass, with no ice, a Collins the opposite. The other key difference for me is that a fizz have an element of ‘FIZZ’ about it when served, that is shake for a long period of time so there’s lots of ice crystals and air bubbles, then pour the stream of mix at the same time as soda so the two stream cross, this will create a light foam on top of the drink, without the need for assistance (egg white etc), and make it beg to be gulped down.

A Fizz to me is something to be consumed swiftly, and is more of a tonic, where as a Collins is something to sit on for a while, in the sun preferably.

Unfortunately, due to the excess of yesterdays Deauville induced rum madness my body wasn’t in the mood for lingering on a beverage, or even really tasting anything that might remind me of alcohol, what I needed was a swift short kick from hair of the dog, something medicinally fresh, and I’ve been saving this drink for such an occasion, I was not disappointed, with the injection of vitamin C, sugar, water and a nice little touch of gin to take the edge off an otherwise horrible day I began to perk right up. Its just a shame by body was rejecting this as a solution until 11pm.