Jerry Thomas, the most famous celebrity bartender, first wrote about the Fizz cocktail in 1876. Fizzes became so popular that bars would have teams of bartenders just to make them. There would be bartenders to shake the drinks and bartenders who would add the soda water and finish it with superfine sugar to make the drink fizz up. The ALABAMA FIZZ, like all fizzes, was (and is) meant to be drunk quickly!
ALABAMA FIZZ
2 oz. gin (Beefeater)
2 tbs. lemon juice
.5 tsp. sugar
Club soda (Q)
Strain into glass over ice cubes, add club soda, garnish with 2 mint sprigs.
Just looking at this recipe I have a few questions. Is this a slightly tweaked Tom Collins? If it’s a fizz why strain over ice? What’s with the two sprigs of mint? I like a nice garnish but that seems like a lot of mint.
TOM COLLINS
2 oz. gin
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. simple syrup
Seltzer or soda water
Garnish: lemon slice and cherry
Combine the gin, lemon juice and syrup in an ice-filled glass and stir. Top off with seltzer water and garnish. Source: Imbibe.com
There are a handful of essential cocktails out there that all other cocktails are born from. For example, a Japanese Cocktail is an Old Fashioned with cognac and orgeat instead of bourbon and sugar. Even though the ALABAMA FIZZ is basically a Tom Collins both Eric and I find fault with it. We previously reviewed the AFFINITY and had the same issues we are having now. The AFFINITY was basically a Rob Roy but the ratios were off. We thought that it would be better with a little more scotch—closer to a Rob Roy—but then it wouldn’t be an AFFINITY. While the ALABAMA FIZZ is a decent cocktail it is not as good as a TOM COLLINS. However, the one thing that is correct about this particular recipe is the use of sugar as opposed to simple syrup.
SCORES: Brian mediocre 5, Eric 5 [revised to 4.5]
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