Foodie Friday: Sloe Gin Fizz

November 23, 2012 , Jess , 2 Comments

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The Foodie Friday after Thanksgiving is always a funny post because most people are still in a food coma from the day before and talking about more food seems a bit much. However, if your holiday is anything like mine, there is still lots of hang out with friends and family the rest of the long weekend. I therefore thought a little story about my love affair with a certain drink would be fitting. You have room for a cocktail this weekend, right?

Do you ever have a new recipe take hold of you and you just have to learn more about it? That is how I felt when I first learned about Sloe Gin Fizzes. They were one of my friends favorite drinks and I had never even heard of them. He complained that he could not find a place in Portland to serve them, so naturally I thought the only answer was for us to make our own. This threw me down the rabbit hole of Gin Fizzes.

The key components to a Gin Fizz are, gin (of course!), lemon juice, sugar, carbonated water and the optional egg. Yes, an egg. The drinks even have different names based on how much of the egg you use.

~Silver Fizz: uses an egg white

~Golden Fizz: uses an egg yolk

~Royal Fizz: uses a whole egg

A Sloe Gin Fizz is traditionally a Silver Fizz. I know it may weird you out to use a raw egg, I had never made a mixed drink with an egg before myself. But it actually does add something to it. It creates a slightly thicker beverage. It changes the texture, but does not make you feel like you are drinking an egg. This drink can be made without an egg, but if you want to be traditional you better whip that egg.

As for a Sloe Gin Fizz, sloe berries are obviously a key part of the recipe. I looked into making my own sloe berry syrup, but it is not a berry that grows locally around these parts and therefore did not feel like an operation I could take on. I did find Sloe Gin at the local liquor store and think it could be easy for anyone else to find.

When researching this drink I found two interesting things about it. First it was a very common brunch drink. Which makes sense when you taste it. It does have a sweet flavor to it. Linz pointed out that she felt it tasted like a slightly sour shirley temple, which sounds delicious to me. The second fact I think was because of the first. I read in more than place that this drink was a “weak” drink and that it was not a “man’s drink”. I even read that because it was served for breakfast, it could not be that strong. This lead me to take up the suggest to add extra gin to the first couple of drinks I made. Let me state now, do not be fooled, this drink is plenty strong without extra gin. I learned that the ~~hard~~ fun way.

Sloe Gin Fizz

Ingredients:
2 oz sloe gin
1 oz lemon or lime juice (I enjoyed either with the drink)
1 oz simple syrup
3 oz soda water
1 egg white whisked (optional)

Mix together all ingredients saving the soda water to top off the drink and enjoy.

~Jess