Derby Fizz

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (6 ratings)
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    Derby Fizz

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Serve in a Fizz or Highball (8oz to 10oz)

Ingredients:
1⁄2 oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
2 barspoon Powdered sugar (white sugar ground in mortar and pestle)
2 oz Blended Scotch whisky
1⁄4 oz Orange Curaçao liqueur
1⁄2 oz Egg white
2 oz Thomas Henry Soda Water
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Garnish: Lemon slice

How to make:

STIR lemon juice and sugar in base of shaker until sugar is dissolved. Add Scotch and orange curaçao, SHAKE with ice and strain back into shaker. DRY SHAKE (without ice) and slowly pour 2/3rds of the contents of the shaker from a higher than normal height into a chilled empty glass (no ice in glass) while simultaneously pouring soda with your other hand. The cocktail and soda should form a single stream of liquid falling into the glass. As when pouring a Guinness, to achieve a perfect head on a Derby Fizz, the cocktail should be left to settle for at least a minute before topping off with what remains in the shaker. Ideally, during the settling period, the glass should be placed in a glass froster/fridge/freezer. As the final contents of the shaker are poured into the glass so the head should rise like a soufflé.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 7/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 7/10
More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

The "Derby" in the name may suggest Kentucky bourbon and that this fizz should be made with bourbon (indeed it can be), but the nuances of the orange curaçao fit better with Scotch whisky.

View readers' comments

History:

The Derby Fizz is said to first appear in the 1934 Old Mr. Boston Bartender's Guide, but it's not in the pamphlet-like 1934 edition I own. It is one of the cocktails mentioned in the "supplementary list" in the back of William James "Billy" Tarling's 1937 Café Royal Bar Book but alas without a recipe.

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Jim Plante’s Avatar Jim Plante
4th September 2022 at 22:01
Great drink, as it stands. You might edit the recipe to say shake the the first 5 ingredients. I believe you forgot to do that after removing the rum. I’m going to try the the Old Mr Boston recipe, thanks Mr Brooke, it sounds interesting also.
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
5th September 2022 at 07:42
Thanks, Jim. Now corrected to 5 ingredients.
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James Brooke’s Avatar James Brooke
22nd May 2022 at 10:33
The recipe that I found for the Deby Fizz comes from page 57 of Old Mr. Boston Bartenderʼs Guide. Boston: Ben Burk, Inc.. 1934.
and is
15ml freshly squeezed lemon
5 ml superfine sugar
1 egg white
60 ml blended scotch
3 dashes curaçao
Shake the above ingredients with ice then strain into a Collins or highball glass filled with ice and top up with soda water.
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
22nd May 2022 at 20:25
Many thanks, James. I certainly need to revisit this recipe. Please can you email me (simon.difford@diffordsguide.com) a phone pic of your page 57 so I can reproduce the recipe as a quotation on this page for the benefit of others? (Sadly, I don't have access to 1934 Old Mr. Boston.)
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James Brooke’s Avatar James Brooke
21st May 2022 at 23:02
Hmmm, it seems to me that 3.25 fl oz is a prodigious amount of alcohol for a cocktail, even or especially for an "elongated" fizz. Once you've added ice to the highball there is hardly any room for soda. I'd welcome the thoughts and comments of others, but I split the shaken ingredients between two highball glass filled with ice and topped up with soda and in my opinion this made for a better long drink.
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Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
22nd May 2022 at 20:27
Rum should not have been part of this recipe and I've now removed. Many thanks for bringing to my attention.
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