The fizz , which in its basic form combines spirits with citrus juice, sugar, and sparkling water, is one of the most important members of the cohort of new drinks that transformed American mixology in the 1870s and 1880s. See also Manhattan Cocktail and Martini. Considering that far and away the most popular iteration of the drink was the Gin Fizz, it is likely that the drink is in some way derived from the Collins, another drink with citrus and soda water and English-style gin, then new in America. See Collins and gin. But the fizz bears the same relation to the Collins that the smash does to the julep: shorter, quicker, faster (unlike the Collins, it originally had no ice in the glass and was meant to be drunk quickly, not sipped over time). See smash and julep. Its name, of course, is a simple acknowledgment of the sparkling or “fizz” water that is its distinguishing feature.
The fizz first appears in print in 1876, in the second edition of Jerry Thomas’s The Bar-Tender’s Guide, although it may pre-date that: the American journalist Julius Chambers later recalled master lobbyist Sam Ward making one for him on the occasion of their first meeting, in 1875. See Thomas, Jeremiah P. “Jerry”. Ward, a New Yorker, was a noted bon vivant and boulevardier, and if he set his hand to popularizing a drink it would be popular. In any case, the drink seems to have come from that city; all of the earliest references to it are from there and it shares most of its DNA with the Daisy, whose origins in that city are well documented. See Daisy.
It took until the summers of 1879 and 1880 for the fizz to catch on as the latest thing in thirst-quenching. By 1882, it was firmly enthroned as, to quote the New York World, the “ordinary indulgence” in the summer months (“It is cooling and it is good”). In the 1880s and 1890s, the fizz also had a year-round secondary role as a light, effervescent hangover cure. For that, there were several dedicated variations, some of which achieved wide popularity.
In fact, the fizz spawned an unusual number of popular variations. As early as 1882 Harry Johnson was already able to list, along with the standard gin, whisky, and brandy versions, the Silver (with gin and egg white), Golden (with egg yolk), and Morning Glory Fizzes. See Johnson, Harry. The latter, with scotch whisky (rarely used in American drinks of the period), absinthe, and egg white, was apparently Johnson’s own creation. It saw wide and enduring service as one of those hangover cures, as its name implies, although not so wide as the Silver Fizz or as enduring as another variation, the famous, and famously delightful, Ramos Fizz. See Ramos Gin Fizz. Others included the Bird of Paradise Fizz (a Silver Fizz with a hint of raspberry); the Cream Fizz, which like the Ramos Fizz showed the influence of the soda fountain on this particular wing of mixology; and William Schmidt’s Imperial Fizz, which dispensed with the soda water in favor of champagne. See
If the 1890s saw the Gin Fizz yield its primacy as a summer cooler to the Gin Rickey, it nevertheless soldiered on as one of the flagship drinks for English-style gin in America and around the world (by the mid-1880s it was being served in London and Paris, with all the other stops on the international cocktail route soon to follow). See Gin Rickey. The introduction of sloe gin to the American market in the early 1900s inevitably led to the Sloe Gin Fizz, the final canonical fizz variation, in circulation by 1904. See sloe gin. Prohibition did not help the fizz in America: a mild and pleasant drink that required a certain finesse in its preparation, it was at odds with the demands of the time. Meanwhile, in Europe and elsewhere, it continued to be carried on in the books but was never in the first rank of mixed drinks as it had been in America. By the 1950s, it was an antique. When it was made at all, it was usually done with ice in the glass, making it nothing more than a small Collins. New Orleans’s Ramos Fizz was one exception, retaining a certain currency in its native city and wherever fancy brunch was served, while the 1970s saw the revival of the Sloe Gin Fizz as a disco drink.
Recent years have seen some renewed interest in the fizz, but not enough that one can consider it fully revived. In part, that is because its two main functions have been rendered obsolete, heat relief by air conditioning and hangover relief by Alka-Seltzer and ibuprofen. Nonetheless, made properly, the Fizz fills a unique position in the world of mixed drinks and one that still has considerable room for exploration.
Recipe: Stir 5 ml sugar into 15 ml lemon juice. Add 60 ml spirits and shake well with ice. Strain into a narrow, 180–240 ml glass and top off with 60 ml chilled sparkling water. For a Silver Fizz add 10 ml egg white before shaking.
Chambers, Julius. “Walks and Talks.” Brooklyn Eagle, November 29, 1919, 15.
“Local Miscellany: The Barkeeper.” Chicago Tribune, November 25, 1883, 11.
“Summer Drinks.” New York World, August 1, 1882, 7.
By: David Wondrich