Chicago Fizz

The Chicago Fizz is a classic Fizz based on Dark Rum and Ruby Port to create a fun Fizz style cocktail; it's also a classic. There's not much known about the Chicago Fizz recipe other than it was likely created in Chicago a long time ago. Unfortunately it's a lot less common these days, but that doesn't make it any less wonderful to drink.

The fizz style of cocktail is a fun one due to the layer of foam on top, and this one is quite stunning thanks to the Ruby Port giving it some colour, but in the drink itself and the foam. Take care in making this cocktail so that you get the right look.

Total Time 5

Servings 1 cocktail

Ingredients

30 mL Dark Rum
30 mL Ruby Port
15 mL Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Superfine Sugar
1 Egg White
90-150 mL Soda Water or to taste.

Instructions

Add all ingredients except Club Soda to a cocktail shaker without ice. Dry shake to froth up the Egg White.
Add ice to the shaker and shake again until cold.
Strain into a tall glass.
Top up with Soda Water.
Enjoy.

Notes

Gin is often the go to spirit for a Fizz style cocktail, so this one is slightly unusual thanks to its use of Dark Rum and Ruby Port. It's great to see a slightly different spin on such a wonderful style of cocktail.

Just a Little Bit More on the Chicago Fizz

We just love fizz style cocktails. They’re all fizzy and delicious. While we know that milkshakes don’t fizz, a fizz is a lot like a milkshake for adults. Especially the Chicago Fizz! It has an alluring ruby colour thanks to the port and, if you make it right you get a really nice head on top of it. Like a nice beer, some people like a different amount of head on their fizz cocktails. Feel free to make yours as big as you dare. While it can be fun to go big, we like to stay a little more sensible and, while a having a bit more foam on top is fun, we’ll dial it back just a little bit. Still plenty of foam, but not too crazy! It just makes it a little bit easier to drink…

Any way you like it, have fun. Just make sure you use a nice Dark Rum and a good Ruby Port. Both of these are adding a lot of flavour here, and you really want them to do the work they need to do.

Is it OK to shake more than one Chicago Fizz at once?

You can probably shake two of these cocktails at once, but don’t do more than that. With any cocktail that has Egg White in it, it’s important that the Egg White is agitated enough by the shaking. If you have too much liquid in your cocktail shaker, you won’t get that and you won’t get a great cocktail.

Does making the Chicago Fizz in advance work?

Not at all. Even if you hold up on putting the Soda Water in until you’re read to serve, you’re still going to lose the froth from the Egg White. When combined with the Soda, the Egg White expands quite a bit and gives the desired head on the beverage. Only make the Chicago Fizz when you’re ready to drink it.

When should I have a Chicago Fizz?

As a longer drink, the Chicago Fizz takes a little longer to drink than a lot of cocktails. Depending on how much Soda Water you use, you get up to 225 mL of liquid here, plus whatever is added from some of the melting of the ice in the shaker and the Egg White. This isn’t quite as much liquid as a standard can of beer (330 mL), but it’s still more than a lot of other cocktail recipes. While long, the Chicago Fizz is a lot heavier than a lot of fizz recipes that contain Gin, especially something like the classic Gin Fizz, because of the Dark Rum and Ruby Port.

So for a cocktail like a Gin Fizz, we see it as a great cocktail for a warm day; plenty of liquid and it’s also plenty refreshing. While the Chicago Fizz has that refreshment element to it, as mentioned, it’s a little bit heavier though! So we wouldn’t reserve the Chicago Fizz for a very hot day. Instead use this as a Spring or Autumn long drink. Those times in slightly cooler weather where you still an invigorating cocktail are the times for a Chicago Fizz.

How strong is the Chicago Fizz

We’re not going to classify this as a low alcohol cocktail, but we will say it’s a bit lower than average. Port usually comes in at about 20% alcohol by volume, which is lower than Dark Rum or spirits in general (which all fall around about 40% ABV, give or take). This puts the Chicago Fizz below so many cocktail recipes that have a full 60 mL serving of full strength spirit. This doesn’t put the Chicago Fizz much below other cocktail recipes, but it puts it just a little bit below. Enjoy!

What music goes best with the Chicago Fizz?

Since it’s called the Chicago Fizz, we need to go with music from Chicago. Chicago has so many different artists from a variety of genres, so it’s hard to pick! Obviously we want to choose an appropriate genre though. But, on reflection, the choice is kind of easy.

We’re going to suggest you listen to some Chicago Blues when you’re ripping into a Chicago Fizz. Sure, the Chicago Fizz isn’t exactly the bluesiest cocktail out there, but, out of all the great genres of music that have come out of Chicago, we think their particular brand of Blues is the best for this drink. We also think some of the slower Chicago Blues songs would go best with this recipe. It’s just nice music to sit back and relax with, so do it.

And finally, some more cocktail recipes for you to try

After you finish your Chicago Fizz (or maybe while you’re drinking it), start planning the next cocktail you’re going to make. Even if you decide to make another one of these, eventually you’ll need to move onto something new, so may as well plan that now!

Top 20 classic cocktail recipes: the Chicago Fizz may not be the most well known classic cocktail but it is, indeed a classic. Come take a look at our favourite classic cocktails.

Top 10 Rum cocktail recipes: here’s a curated list of the Rum cocktail recipes we like the best. We hope you like them too!

All Rum cocktail recipes: if you just wanted to browse everything with Rum in it, we have a treat for you. All the Rum cocktail recipes we have on the site!

All Dark Rum cocktail recipes: finally, here’s the recipes we have that are just with Dark Rum. Enjoy.