"It's like drinking a flower"...The Ramos Gin Fizz

This drink will make every bartender quiver, but when made properly, it will have the same effect on the imbiber.  This storied cocktail begins in 1888 with Henry C. Ramos relocating from Baton Rouge to New Orleans and purchasing the Imperial Cabinet Saloon.  The saloon was located at the corner of Gravier and Carondelet streets.  Ramos served up a frothy gin fizz that was radically different from others of the day.  Visitors would flock to his dispensary and as one poetical imbiber eulogized it to "like drinking a flower!"  Ramos remained there until 1907, when he purchased Tom Anderson's Stag Saloon opposite the Gravier street entrance to the St. Charles Hotel.

According to the "Famous New Orleans Drinks and how to mix 'em" , Stanley Clisby Arthur 1937, The Stag became so crowded that customers were forced to wait an hour or more (or so it seemed) to be served.  The corps of busy shaker boys behind the bar was one of the sights of the town during Carnival, and in the 1915 Mardi Gras, 35 shaker boys nearly shook their arms off, but were still unable to keep up with the demand.

The Stag survived and thrived until the dark days of prohibition.  Once the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed, The Roosevelt acquired the legal rights to the Ramos Gin Fizz.  They continue the time honored tradition of shaking and building one of New Orleans most notorious cocktails...

Ramos Gin Fizz (as told by Arthur)
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
3-4 drops orange flower water
1/2 lime-juice only
1/2 lemon-juice only
1 jigger dry gin
1 white of egg
1 jigger rich milk or cream
1 squirt seltzer water
2 drops extract vanilla (optional)

Mix in a tall barglass in the order given; add crushed ice, not too fine as lumps are needed to whip up the froth of the egg white and cream.  Use a long metal shaker and remember this is one drink which needs a long, steady shaking.  Keep at it until the mixture gets body-"ropy" as some experienced barkeepers express it.  When thoroughly shaken, strain into a tall thin glass for serving.

The Ramos Gin Fizz

As with most drinks, I like to stick to the original and give it a modern twist...

Barragan's Ramos Gin Fizz

2 oz Anchor's Old Tom Gin

1/2 oz Lemon Juice

1/2 oz Lime Juice

1 Egg White

3/4 oz Simple Syrup

1 barspoon Fee Brothers Orange Flower Water

1 barspoon Nielson-Massey Vanilla Extract

1 oz Homemade Chantilly Cream

Seltzer Water

In a Boston Shaker, add all ingredients except the Seltzer Water and give it a dry shake for 1 minute.  Add cracked ice and shake for an additional minute.  Strain into a chilled Collins Glass.  Top with seltzer water.

Raise a glass to The Ramos Gin Fizz and Huey Long, a beloved imbiber and fellow man of the people!

http://waldorfastoria3.hilton.com/en/hotels/louisiana/the-roosevelt-new-orleans-a-waldorf-astoria-hotel-MSYRHWA/amenities/restaurants-sazerac-bar.html

"...about six I went down to the bar and had a Jack Rose with George the barman."

The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway 

So few cocktails call for an apple brandy and this is one not to be missed!  The history of the cocktail and how it got it's name is much debated.  The three strongest contenders range from simple to notorious...1) The drink is made with Applejack and it rose colored...simplicity at it's finest. 2) The Jack Rose is a double entendre on the name Jacque Rose (General Jacqueminot or General Jack or Jack Rose is the name of a hybrid perpetual rose) which according to Albert Stevens Crockett professes in the 1931 The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book, "so called because of its pink color, the exact shade of a Jacqueminot rose, when properly concocted."  3) The drink is named after a bald, lying, hitman, Jack Rose.  The gangster found himself embroiled in "trial of the century" which sent one man to the chair, one to the Governor's office and one to the executive editorship of the New York World.  Whatever tale you choose to believe one thing is certain, if it's worthy enough for Hemingway to mention it, then it is definitely worth drinking.   

Every classic cocktail book that mentions this cocktail calls for one apple brandy, Applejack*.  Laird's Applejack has a long and distinguished past.  Records show that George Washington wrote to the Laird family (1760) requesting their recipe for producing Applejack.  Then in 1780, the first known commercial record of Applejack establishes the Laird legacy.  For eighteen generations the recipe has been carefully crafted in New Jersey.

That's a legacy!

*Barflies and Cocktail does mention Calvados as a substitute 

I discovered this cocktail many years ago and was first introduced to it with lemon and not lime juice.  I loved the cocktail and wanted to know more about it.  While sifting through my classic cocktail books I noticed that earlier versions say lime.  While I had been using lemon I switched and reformulated to the original ingredients.  Calvados is a totally acceptable apple brandy, but again, as a purist, I am gonna stick to the classic formula.  When mixed right, this cocktail is delicious, slightly tart and deceptively smooth.  Cheers and Happy New Year!

Barragan's Jack Rose Cocktail
2 oz Laird's Applejack Brandy
1/2 oz Homemade Grenadine Syrup
1/2 oz Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
Shake all ingredients well and strain into a cocktail glass.  Zest a lime for garnish (the earliest texts don't mention a garnish)