Jim Meehan’s Matcha Twist on the Ramos Gin Fizz
This recipe is excerpted from The Bartender’s Pantry by Jim Meehan and Bart Sasso with Emma Janzen, a cocktail book that dives deep into the provenance, cultural significance, and production of foodstuffs that have made their way into cocktails. The book collects recipes for a pantry of homemade staples, including an oat milk recipe from Lydia Parsley of Portland’s Yes Produce Club, used in this cocktail. For the sake of convenience, we’ve included substitution options in collaboration with Meehan. See also Meehan’s take on the espresso martini.
Dragonfly
A dragonfly’s levity inspired the title of this ethereal riff on the Ramos Gin Fizz. This recipe is remarkable for a few reasons: it has a pleasant creaminess, like the original cocktail, but the mouthfeel is lightened significantly by the substitution of oat milk for heavy cream; the celery-spiced gin tastes better with the grain-based milk than with dairy; and because there is no dairy involved, this is a great go-to for lactase nonpersistent imbibers. Yields one serving.
Ingredients
1 1/8 teaspoon matcha powder, separated; Kettl Tea’s Hanaka matcha or Mizuba matcha
1 3/4 ounces Rutte celery gin, or a standard London dry gin
1 1/4 ounces oat milk, such as Oatly’s Barista Edition
1/2 ounce Giffard white crème de cacao, or another available brand
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/4 ounce lime juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup (equal parts white cane sugar and water stirred or gently heated to combine)
1 egg white from a large egg
ice cubes, roughly 2 cups
1 ounce club soda
Procedure
- Sift 1 teaspoon of the matcha powder into a small bowl or Japanese chawan tea bowl if you have one and reserve the remaining 1/8 teaspoon for garnish. Using a chasen, a bamboo matcha whisk, vigorously whisk 2 1/2 ounces of 176-degree water (not quite simmering) into the tea, working for 15 to 20 seconds until the mixture is fully integrated and forms a fine foam. (This is an abbreviated process for making usucha or “thin” matcha that’s illustrated in greater detail in The Bartender’s Pantry by Zach Mangan of Kettl Tea.)
- Add 1/2 ounce of the prepared matcha (reserving the rest for another use, or another round), the gin, oat milk, crème de cacao, lemon juice, lime juice, simple syrup, and egg white to a Boston shaker (the style in which one metal or glass cup fits upside down inside the lip of another, creating a vacuum seal).
- Shake without ice for 10 seconds, then add a scoop of ice cubes (roughly 2 cups) and shake for another 10 to 15 seconds. The first “whip” shake is to emulsify the egg proteins for texture and the second “hard” shake is to chill, dilute, and aerate the mixture. It’s properly chilled once the outside of the shaker is frosted and uncomfortably cold in the hand.
- Add the club soda to the shaker and double-strain through a Hawthorne (the paddle-shaped gizmo with a spring on the bottom that came with your cocktail shaker kit) and a fine-mesh strainer into a chilled Collins glass. Garnish with a light dusting of matcha powder.
