Fizzes

Short History of Seltzer Water

Carbonated water (also known as soda water, sparkling water, fizzy water, club soda, water with gas or (especially in the U.S.) as seltzer or seltzer water) is water containing dissolved carbon dioxide gas, either artificially injected under pressure or occurring due to natural geological processes. Carbonation causes small bubbles to form, giving the water an effervescent quality. Common forms include sparkling natural mineral water, club soda, and commercially-produced sparkling water.

The idea that sparkling water has medicinal value dates all the way back to the Greeks, but it wasn’t until the 1700s that spa culture really took shape among the well-heeled classes of modern Europe. Spa towns, complete with opulent hotels and other entertainments, developed around naturally occurring mineral springs whose effervescent waters, doctors believed, could cure almost any ailment, from indigestion to gout to kidney problems. The word “seltzer” itself comes from the name of one of these German spa towns, Niederselters, whose naturally carbonated mineral waters were bottled and exported around the world as early as 1787.

In 1767, Joseph Priestley invented artificially carbonated water, by accident, when he discovered a method of infusing water with carbon dioxide after having suspended a bowl of water above a beer vat at a brewery in Leeds, England. The process, however, wasn't commercialized until 1786 in Switzerland by a man named Jacob Schweppes.

By the 1820s and 1830s, pharmacists set about trying to bring the health-giving benefits of spa waters to the city. And so the drugstore soda fountain was born.

As time wore on, what Americans wanted from seltzer began to shift. “In the 18th and 19th centuries, seltzer was all about health,” Joseph writes in Seltzertopia. “In the 20th century, seltzer was about the promise of pleasure.” At delis and candy stores and soda fountains in New York City and beyond, Americans from all walks of life drank seltzer for “two cents plain” or sweetened with an array of syrups, giving birth to classic recipes like the lime rickey and the egg cream.

A "fizz" is a mixed drink variation on the older sours family of cocktail. Its defining features are a spirit, sweetener, and acidic juice (such as lemon or lime) shaken with ice and topped off with carbonated water. The fizz is not a complicated drink. In fact it takes any sour, and just gives more lightness through some bubbles and an instant feeling of refreshment. The first popular fizz was the Gin Fizz; it is almost identical to the Collins, except received wisdom says the Tom Collins is built over ice in a bigger glass and was meant to be nursed leisurely, whereas the gin, lemon juice and sugar are shaken first for a fizz, before being topped up with soda. A fizz resided is a smaller vessel with no ice and was meant to be knocked back swiftly. They weren’t made for lingering over, as Jerry Thomas says about the gin fizz, "imbibe while it is lively."

Before the Bloody Mary became the universal morning-after prescription, the fizz, a sour made tall by the addition of soda water and the optional egg white, was for half a century the perfect hair-of-the-dog remedy. Created in New Orleans around the 1870s and first recorded in print in 1876 by Jerry Thomas as simply lemon, sweetener, spirit and seltzer, this corpse reviver began its ascendancy towards cocktail celebrity alongside the Daisy and the Collins. Some versions of the Gin Fizz call for egg whites, though traditionally this cocktail is made without eggs. If you include egg whites, it should be dry shaken (shaken with no ice) to create the frothiest head. By 1900, it was popular across the States.

Henry C. Ramos invented the Ramos Gin Fizz in 1888 at his bar, the Imperial Cabinet Saloon on Gravier Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. The city was already famous for its alcoholic drinks but also its consumption of sodas, the non-alcoholic fizzy drinks made at soda fountains by bartenders known as “jerks”. Some sources say New Orleans consumed more soda than any other city in 19th century USA apart from Atlanta (the home of Coca-Cola). That popularity led to soda experimentation in alcoholic drinks, starting with the gin fizz, and by 1888, one of the fizz’s most famous examples was created, the Ramos Gin Fizz.

It contains gin, lemon juice, lime juice, egg white, sugar, cream, Orange flower water, and Soda water. The orange flower water and egg significantly affect the flavor and texture of a Ramos, compared to a regular gin fizz. The key to making this egg cocktail is dissolving the sugar before adding ice; the sugar acts as an emulsifier, and it and the alcohol “cook” the egg white.

It was originally called a "New Orleans fizz", and is one of the city's most famous cocktails. Before Prohibition, the drink's popularity and exceptionally long 12-minute mixing time had over 20 bartenders working at the Imperial at once making nothing but the Ramos gin fizz - and still struggling to keep up with demand. During the carnival of 1915, 32 staff members were on at once, just to shake the drink.

The fizz became widely popular in America between 1900 and the 1940s.

Simple variations on the gin fizz are:

There are other fizzes by name which don’t follow the same rules for ingredients, but equate to something similar. Think of them as distant cousins. The Buck’s Fizz is one, invented at the Buck Club in London in 1921. It’s a simple mix of orange juice and champagne and though it has the bubbles and orange’s natural bittersweet balance, it doesn’t have lemon, sugar, or soda. Similar is the Mimosa, invented four years later in Venice.

From Jerry Thomas’ Bartender’s Guide, 1876

244. Whiskey Fiz.

(Use small bar glass.)

4 or 5 dashes of gum syrup.
Juice of 1/2 a lemon.
1 small wineglass of whiskey.

Fill the glass half full of shaved ice, shake up well and strain into a glass.
Fill up the glass with Seltzer water from a syphon and drink without hesitation.

245. Brandy Fiz.

This is concocted the same way as the "Whiskey Fiz, substituting brandy for whiskey.

246. Gin Fiz.

The same as Whiskey Fiz, substituting gin for whiskey.

247. Santa Cruz Rum Fiz.

The same as Whiskey Fiz, substituting Santa Cruz rum for whiskey.

348. Tom Collins Whiskey.

(Use large bar glass.)

5 or 6 dashes of gum syrup.
Juice of a small lemon.
1 large wineglass of whiskey.

Fill the glass half full of shaved ice, shake up well and strain into a large bar glass.
Fill up the glass with plain soda water and imbibe while it is lively.