The Simple Goodness Fizz cocktail is an impressive cocktail to show off your home bartending skills but easy to make once you know the technique. It is one of my favorite cocktails to teach because not only is it delicious and almost universally loved, this drink is a beautiful canvas to play with different flavors of your syrups. It starts with a simple formula for a well balanced drink, but the potential to layer flavors and complement the seasons with your choices makes this a fun garden to glass experiment. You can practice pairing your syrups with diffferent spirits and citrus juices for a huge variety of cocktails in interesting combinations: think a spicy rye whiskey with an herbaceous Lemon Herb syrup and fresh lemon juice, or a lavender distilled gin with Blueberry Lavender syrup and a mix of lemon and lime juices.

A fizz is a cocktail that uses the formula of spirit, sour (usually a citrus juice), egg white (shaken to become foamy and silky in texture) and sweetener (usually a simple syrup.)

This fizz used a London Dry gin with our Plum Thyme syrup, egg white and fresh lemon juice

This really isn't a hard drink to make, but it is one that requires technique. But like riding a bike, after the first time you do it successfully, you won't forget. They're not the drink I'd choose for a dinner party, unless you're looking for an arm workpout simultaneously to your hosting duties. It's a drink for a date night in, a reward after a long week, or when you're making the first round for friends and want to treat them to something special.

Almost everyone has had a whiskey sour or a Cosmopolitan, two examples of the "sour" category that use sweetener, syrup, and spirits as their base. Everyone has also likely had terrible versions fo those, with pre-bottled lemon and lime sour mix that uses corn syrup and food colorings and citric acid to keep a product that by all accounts should be fresh, shelf stable. There's no way around the truth- those mixes aren't good. When you use fresh citrus juice in your cocktails, you'll never go back to the bottled stuff. Measuring in your citrus and syrup seperatly also allow you to mix up the syrup you use for fun options for any season.

A fizz cocktail adds foamed egg white to the sour template to create a really elegant texture that you don't want to skip. It will wrap the alcohol in a velvet loveliness that makes for the smoothest cocktail. You can use aquafaba, the juice left in a can of chickpeas, as a good vegan substitute that is practically tasteless, clear, and foams similary to egg white.

This is a cocktail in which the vessel its served in plays a big role in its success. Don't use a tall, thin glass just because it's close by in the cupboard. A stemmed coupe, like the one pictured above, or a large martini glass not only look the prettiest (and this cocktail is big on presentation) they work the best. If you don't have one of those, an Old Fashioned glass can also work. The key is a wide opening of the cup for the foam to sit and to distribute the smell of the drink. Too thin an opening, and you'll smell only egg white and alcohol which can really ruin the experience. A wide mouthed glass distributes the smells and you'll get the aroma of the citrus and spirit.

A fresh garnish with a smell that complements the ingredients will not only sit high and pretty on the white foam canvas, it'll help draw you in with the pleasant smell. It's true that the scent of the garnish can help you taste the complementary flavors in the drink better. Think a resting sprig of lavender in a gin cocktail, or fresh thyme on a fizz with Lemon Herb syrup. As well, a stemmed glass is better to keep the drink chilled, due to it being served "up" or without ice.

Makes 1

Glass: coupe or large martini

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces Gin, Whiskey, Bourbon, Tequila, Pisco, Sherry, etc (see recommended combinations below)
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice, or a mix of lemon and lime juice, fresh squeezed
• 3/4 ounce Simple Syrup (see recommended combinations below)
• 1/2 ounce (or about 1 large) egg white or aquafaba (chickpea water) as a vegan/allergen substitute
• 1 scoop of 3 large cubes ice
• garnish to complement the chosen syrup
• 1 ounce

Directions: In a cocktail shaker without any ice, add all ingredients but no ice. Firmly cap the shaker and do a dry shake of all ingredients for 1 minute (it’s a work out!) Shake vigorously to create maximum "action" of the ingredients against the walls of the shaker. This “dry shake” technique will help break up the proteins of the egg white or aquafaba to create a foam. This cocktail is all about texture. Gently, so as not to kill the foam, add a big scoop of ice to the shaker and then shake vigorously for another 30 seconds. Strain the drink into a coupe or stemmed wine glass. Soam foam will come through and settle to the top. Capture the extra foam that has clung to the sides of the shaker by “rinsing” the shaker with just 1 ounce of club soda, swirling it to catch the foam and then straining it onto the top of the drink. If done correctly, there will be a solid line of silky foam ½ inch thick at the top of the glass, and a bright, transparent liquid layer of cocktail below.

Makes 1

Glass: coupe or large martini

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces non-alcoholic spirit (see recommended combinations below)
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice, or a mix of lemon and lime juice, fresh squeezed
• 3/4 ounce Simple Syrup (see recommended combinations below)
• 1/2 ounce (or about 1 large) egg white or aquafaba (chickpea water) as a vegan/allergen substitute
• 1 scoop of 3 large cubes ice
• garnish to complement the chosen syrup
• 1 ounce club soda

Directions: In a cocktail shaker without any ice, add all ingredients but no ice. Firmly cap the shaker and do a dry shake of all ingredients for 1 minute (it’s a work out!) Shake vigorously to create maximum "action" of the ingredients against the walls of the shaker. This “dry shake” technique will help break up the proteins of the egg white or aquafaba to create a foam. This cocktail is all about texture. Gently, so as not to kill the foam, add a big scoop of ice to the shaker and then shake vigorously for another 30 seconds. Strain the drink into a coupe or stemmed wine glass. Soam foam will come through and settle to the top. Capture the extra foam that has clung to the sides of the shaker by “rinsing” the shaker with just 1 ounce of club soda, swirling it to catch the foam and then straining it onto the top of the drink. If done correctly, there will be a solid line of silky foam ½ inch thick at the top of the glass, and a bright, transparent liquid layer of cocktail below.

Combinations to try

• 100% rye whiskey + lemon juice + LemonHerb syrup
• bourbon + lemon + Plum Thyme syrup
• Amethyst Lavender gin (or other floral gin) + lemon + Huckleberry Spruce Tip syrup
• Botanist gin (or other very herbaceous gin) + lemon/lime + Blueberry Lavender syrup
• Vodka + lemon + Berry Sage syrup + grapefruit bitters on top
• 3 parts blanco tequila to 1 part mezcal + lime + Rhubarb Vanilla syrup
• Pisco + lemon + apple pie syrup + angostura bitters on top