|
| |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
DRINKS FEATURES
FEATURED COCKTAIL
RAMOS GIN FIZZ
In the early years of the 20th Century in a New Orleans French Quarter bar called the Imperial Cabinet Saloon, a drink was born. Named after the Ramos brothers who invented it, the Ramos Gin Fizz is a decadent concoction, thickened with cream and egg whites, with the delicate flavours of orange, lemon and lime. Into this enticing package a double shot of gin is slipped, as discreetly as a love letter.
It is said that no-one knows the true recipe as the Ramos brothers went bankrupt in 1919 with the onset of Prohibition. It was originally conceived as a hangover drink - a way to slip down a shot of gin in the morning. The brothers’ signature drink was such a resounding success that during the New Orleans Carnival in 1915 they had to employ 35 bartenders to do nothing but shake cocktail shakers full of gin fizzes, and even then they couldn’t keep up with demand. The customers said it was like drinking a flower.
The Ramos brothers were said to fiercely guard their highly lucrative recipe but Prohibition brought the end of their business and their moment of fame. The sobering era not only drove drinking culture underground, but also saw the burial of one of the brothers. In 1933 the surviving brother sold the recipe and the rights to its name to the old Roosevelt Hotel. There, the then legendary Louisiana Governor Huey P Long became famously attached to the Ramos Gin Fizz, and whenever he made his frequent trips away from the state to Washington D.C he made one of the hotel bartenders accompany him so he could have his favourite drink on call.
Today the drink has survived at New Orleans’ and London’s finer establishments, including, naturally, at AKA! |
|
|
|
|
