Ramos Gin Fizz Recipe

By Timo Torner / Last updated on May 28, 2023

The Ramos Gin Fizz is a twist on a classic Gin Fizz. Adding a few drops of orange water and a bit of cream gets you this beautiful drink. Yet, be careful with your measurements. Otherwise, things can quickly turn into a mess.
Ramos Gin Fizz Cocktail Recipe

The Ramos Gin Fizz cocktail was invented in the 1880s, around the same time as the Manhattan Cocktail. Initially named New Orleans Fizz, this drink has it all:

It tastes creamy, fresh, and citrusy, and has a gorgeous egg white foam, just the perfect drink to order at your favorite bar. 

Quick Facts Ramos Gin Fizz Cocktail

  • Method: Shaken
  • Flavor profile: well-balanced, creamy, sweet, and sour
  • How to serve it: straight up
  • Best glassware: highball glass
  • Alcohol content: ~ 13%, 19 grams of alcohol per serving

But don't order multiple of these unless you intend to become the bartender's enemy of the night. You wonder why? Read on and find out why it can be one hell of a cocktail to make.

Ramos Gin Fizz Cocktail Recipe

Ramos Gin Fizz Recipe

Prep Time: 1 minute
Shaking time3 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Gin
Servings: 1
Calories: 296kcal
Cost: $3.30

Ingredients

  • 2 oz London Dry Gin
  • 1 oz heavy cream
  • 1 pcs Egg white
  • 0.5 oz Fresh lemon juice
  • 0.5 oz Fresh lime juice
  • 2-3 dashes Orange flower water
  • Soda water

Instructions

  • Put all ingredients - except the soda water - in a cocktail shaker.
    2 oz London Dry Gin, 1 oz heavy cream, 1 pcs Egg white, 0.5 oz Fresh lemon juice, 0.5 oz Fresh lime juice, 2-3 dashes Orange flower water
  • Shake intensely and long enough for the cream and egg white to combine and create that beautiful foam.
  • Add four to five medium-sized ice cubes and shake again strongly.
  • Strain into a cold Collins or Highball glass and gently fill it up with soda water until the foam is slightly higher than the rim of the glass.
    Soda water

Nutrition

Serving: 5.25ozCalories: 296kcalCarbohydrates: 11.2gProtein: 4.2gFat: 10.15gSaturated Fat: 7gSodium: 55.5mgPotassium: 85mgSugar: 5.8gVitamin C: 11.5mgCalcium: 7mgIron: 0.1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

What's in a Ramos Gin Fizz

By looking at the list of ingredients, you can already guess that the Ramos Gin Fizz is a crowd-pleaser. It's a good amount of gin, lemon and lime juice, egg white & cream for the foam, and orange flower water to add this special flavor note:

  • Gin: As for the type of gin, a Dry or London Dry is an excellent choice.
  • Citrus Juice: Remember that lime and lemon juice always have to be freshly squeezed if you want a great cocktail instead of an okay one.
  • Orange Flower Water: The second key ingredient, but you only need a few drops. Still, that makes or breaks the result. There's so much flavor in this ingredient - you can't skip it. Yet, at the same time, you should not overdo it. Just a little too much can ruin your drink.
  • Egg White & Cream: These two components make for the elegant, foamy head of the cocktail. That is how you can recognize a Ramos Gin Fizz visually. Also, use heavy cream for the perfect creamy consistency and taste.
  • Soda Water: Use newly-opened soda with a lot of fizz for this cocktail.

Can You Substitute Orange Blossom Water?

No, unfortunately not. When you want to create a proper, classic Ramos Gin Fizz, there's no way you can skip the orange flower water. People are trying to replace it with orange juice or liqueur, but I do not recommend it.

However, if you intend to make a riff on the classic recipe, naturally, there are things you can use as a substitute. 

Besides various cocktail bitters, a possible replacement is rose water. It is another very flavorsome ingredient - thus, you should also handle it with care - but it works great in a "Rose Ramos Gin Fizz."

How long to Shake a Ramos Gin Fizz?

From our experience, you should be good with 30 - 45 seconds in most cases. Quite a workout - especially if you have to do more than one.

That means you dry shake your cocktail for 15 - 25 seconds, then add ice and shake for another 15 - 20 seconds. That should get you a perfectly mixed Ramos Gin Fizz with a beautiful foamy top. 

The good news is that it is a lot less than the 12 minutes mentioned in the original recipe for the perfect Ramos Gin Fizz. And a little less than the average of the usual recommendations range from 25 to 90 seconds in modern recipes.

Don't be discouraged if the foam is not as impressive as you hoped when trying for the first time. The Ramos Gin Fizz needs some practice. Yet, once you get there, the result is delicious and worth it. 

So roll up your sleeves and grab your cocktail shaker. It's time to make some Ramos Gin Fizz cocktails.

Ramos Gin Fizz

More Tipps to Make a Ramos Gin Fizz

Indeed, the most crucial part of preparing a Ramos Gin Fizz is the intense shaking. -Trust me, you don't want to do the initially required 12 to 15 minutes. Hence, make use of a technique called dry shaking:

What you should do for a "dry shake" is, add your ingredients to the shaker and leave off the ice. This way, the egg white emulsifies better, which gets you a thicker foam. After the dry shake, open the shaker, add ice, and shake again.

If this doesn't get you the result you're after, try a "reverse dry shake". Also a 2-step process, but here, you shake with ice first. -If you want to know more, read this article on Dry Shaking.

Other things to keep in mind when making a Ramos Gin Fizz are:

  • Use large ice cubes for shaking your drink so it won't water down too much during the process.
  • Chill your glass before pouring the cocktail. It is served straight up, and you want it to maintain a cool temperature for as long as possible.
  • Don't skip the orange blossom water.

History

For many cocktails, it's hard to tell precisely when they were mixed for the first time and by whom, but all that is known for the Ramos Gin Fizz. On the contrary, the history of the drink is surprisingly well-documented.

Henry C. Ramos invented the Ramos Gin Fizz in 1888 in his bar, the Imperial Cabinet Saloon in New Orleans. Back then, he served it under the name New Orleans Fizz. And this New Orleans Fizz gained fame instantly. 

By the time Henry C. Ramos opened another outlet (the Stag), people already had gotten used to referring to the creation by Henry's last name rather than New Orleans Fizz.

A consequence of the popularity of his drink was that Ramos had to hire more bartenders. And this got something to do with why the recipe is both loved and hated by bartenders - loved because it's a great drink, hated because it's laborious to make:

The original recipe wants the bartender to shake the cocktail for 12 to 15 minutes. That had been necessary to obtain a perfect egg-white foam. 

And if you ever used a cocktail shaker before, you know what this means: it's hell. So to be able to serve many people at once, Ramos hired up to 20 bartenders, which all shook up his Ramos Gin Fizz simultaneously.

Related Cocktail Recipes

Other delicious gin cocktail recipes you should try from the early era of mixology are:

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