The Jerry Thomas Project is the re-creation of all of Jerry Thomas’ cocktails from Jerry Thomas’ Bar-Tenders Guide: Receipts for Mixing in their purest form. Jerry Thomas is considered America’s father of mixology publishing the first cocktail book in 1862.
Just plugging right along now with the Jerry Thomas Project, I had a harsh reality of how far I had to go and how far I had gotten. I really want to finish by the end of the year so that I made all of the drinks in 12 months and the only way that is going to happen is to be way more on the ball.
A quick tidbit about slings, which I wrote about earlier this week. I was digging through David Wondrich’s book Imbibe (which if you have any interest in Jerry Thomas is a must read) he had a couple of interesting little bits about slings.
:::::: Slings most likely get their name from “slinging back” a drink.
:::::: In 1825, the Sling passed as a health drink. “It is stated with unshaken confidence, as the result of actual and repeated experience, that half a tumbler of gin sling, well powdered with grated nutmeg, proves a speedy and an efficacious styptic in that dangerous and alarming complaint, a bleeding of the lungs.”
* Makes you wonder what pharmaceuticals we consider medicine today and what people a couple of hundred years from now might think.
:::::: The Sling was often drank first thing in the morning! (Can’t say you’ve been drinking all day if you don’t start in the morning.)
Tonight, I made a series of Fizzes (or as Jerry Thomas spells them Fizes). Not all the Fiz recipes are the same, but for the most part a Fiz calls for lemon juice, white sugar, and sometimes a part of an egg.
Santa Cruz Fiz
2 ounces of Santa Cruz Rum (Caribbean Rum)
1 teaspoon of Baker’s Sugar
3 dashes of lemon juice
ice
Stir the ingredients together; add ice, top with Seltzer.
Whiskey Fiz
2 ounces of Bourbon or Rye
1 teaspoon of Baker’s Sugar
3 dashes of lemon juice
ice
Stir the ingredients together; add ice, top with Seltzer.
Brandy Fiz
2 ounces of brandy
1 teaspoon of Baker’s Sugar
3 dashes of lemon juice
ice
Stir the ingredients together, add ice, top with Seltzer.
Gin Fiz
2 ounces of Genever Gin (might I recommend Aviation Gin, a genever style gin made right here in Oregon)
1 teaspoon of Baker’s Sugar
3 dashes of lemon juice
ice
Stir the ingredients together, add ice, top with Seltzer.
Silver Fiz
2 ounces of Old Tom Gin (definitely get your hand’s on Ransom’s Old Tom Gin if you can)
1 teaspoon of Baker’s Sugar
3 dashes of lemon juice
1 egg white
ice
Stir the ingredients together, add ice, top with Seltzer.
Golden Fiz
2 ounces of Old Tom Gin (definitely get your hand’s on Ransom’s Old Tom Gin if you can)
1 teaspoon of Baker’s Sugar
3 dashes of lemon juice
1 egg yolk
ice
Stir the ingredients together, add ice, top with Seltzer.
Let’s just say, don’t ever make the Golden Fiz. It is absolutely hideous, smells like raw egg and gin (kind of made me want to gag, and I’ve eaten pine tar just to know what it tastes like). There’s way too much egg for that amount of gin and it’s just kind of nasty looking as the soda water doesn’t mix well and the sides of the glass have an obnoxious layer of grimy sugar egg scum on the sides. The Silver Fiz isn’t much better, but the smell is a little bit more bearable as the white doesn’t have as much scent as the yolk. Nonetheless, save your egg whites for the Saratoga Brace Up.
To check out other Jerry Thomas Project recipes – click here.
I am a mixologist bartender and this is my blog.
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The Golden Fiz recipe should be egg yolk (reads “egg white”). Using fresher eggs and upping the lemon (depends on what you consider 3 dash) will help to override the egg smell.
Thank you Frederic – I fixed the recipe. I can see how doctoring that drink could make it considerably better – but as Mr. Thomas scribbled it down – I find it terrible. I did use a very fresh egg from one of my sister’s chickens – so I don’t think it was the egg. I do think that if you used a more sugar and lemon juice, shaken really hard with a splash of soda – well that could be quite tasty. But I still think I’ll stick with the whites, as they have less scent. Anyhow, my very endearing pooch loves the yolk – so it works out great for everyone.