The Ramos Gin Fizz is a foamy concoction of gin, lime, lemon, orange flower water, cream, soda, and an egg white. The egg white is key to creating the drink’s proper frothy consistency, as are the fifteen minutes the bartender spends shaking the drink to create that foam. The drink is a New Orleans original, created in the 1880s by Henry C. Ramos at his Imperial Cabinet Saloon at the corner of Carondelet and Gravier Streets, in what is now the Central Business District. There, the Ramos Gin Fizz gained fame; in 1888, Ramos sold five thousand gin fizzes in one week. In 1907, Ramos moved his establishment down the street a few blocks to a new joint, The Stag.
In the blog Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ‘Em , Stanley Clisby Arthur writes that at The Stag, 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.
With the passage of the Volstead Act which created Prohibition Ramos, a law-abiding man, closed up shop. Interestingly, he started another kind of mixing business: He ran a paint store. He died in 1928, before the repeal of Prohibition and, sadly, before he could mix another drink. Fortunately for posterity, he did allow his closely guarded recipe for the Ramos Gin Fizz to be published and, after Prohibition, the drink found a new home at the Sazerac Bar, where it remains a favorite.
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