Ramos Gin Fizz

The souffle of the cocktail world, the statuesque Ramos Gin Fizz is part of the New Orleans canon of classic cocktails revered by bartenders and cocktail lovers all over the world. It was created by Henry Charles Ramos in 1888 at the Imperial Cabinet Saloon. Originally made using Old Tom gin, this long cocktail mixes it with lemon, lime, egg whites, cream, and soda to make something that is indulgent yet surprisingly refreshing.

Legend has it that the creamy and fluffy cocktail needed so much shaking – 12 to 15 minutes to be precise – that Ramos employed a long chain of ‘shaker men’ who would shake the cocktail in relay in order to spare their arms from shaking and hands from the ice-cold shakers.

Shannon Tebay

Beverage director at The Lower Third, London

“This drink has a tough reputation amongst bartenders because the classic instructions require the maker to shake for 12 minutes. As a former pastry chef, I think about this drink a little differently. The reason the drink requires such exhaustive shaking is because the bartender is trying to build up a strong egg white structure, the element that gives the cocktail its vertical lift, while the fattiness of the cream is doing the exact opposite and breaking down that structure as the bartender shakes. By simply omitting the cream until the very last moments, creating that meringue is much easier and doesn’t require nearly as much effort as it did in the traditional recipe. Using this method, the drink can be made start-tofinish in just a couple of minutes.”

Georgios Vrettos

Bartender at Soho House, London

“The Last Word is a great example of a drink that tastes 10 times better than its ingredients separately. It could easily be defined as a classic when you have so many modern reincarnations of it like the Mezcal Last Word, Paper Plane, and Naked and Famous. It also stands strong next to equal-parts gin cocktails like the Corpse Reviver. The herbaceous but also fresh palate of aromas that come with the drink could be a great opener or closer to your dining experience. If you want an extra kick, add a mist of absinthe.”

Glass: Nick & Nora Ingredients:

• 20ml Monkey 47 Gin

• 20ml lime juice

• 20ml Aperol

• 20ml elderflower liqueur

Method:

Shake all the ingredients with ice and fine-strain into a chilled Nick & Nora glass. Express a grapefruit peel over the drink and discard.