Blush pink and lightly sparkling, it sets sloe gin's tart, ruby plum character against lemon and a touch of syrup, much as a Gin Fizz frames dry gin. A long top of soda softens that fruit into something gentle, fizzy and easy-drinking, served cold in a tall glass with a lemon wheel to keep it bright.
Garnish: Lemon Wheel, Maraschino Cherry
Shaken · Highball · On the Rocks
add
Add the sloe gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup to a shaker with ice.
shake
Shake well until chilled, withholding the soda water.
strain
Strain into a highball glass filled with fresh ice.
top
Top with the soda water and gently stir to combine.
garnish
Garnish with a lemon wheel and, if desired, a maraschino cherry.
No inventor, bar or year is attached to the Sloe Gin Fizz in the record — it is a generic drink, the result of setting sloe gin, the red British liqueur made by steeping blackthorn sloes in gin with sugar, onto the familiar fizz pattern of spirit, citrus, sugar and soda. The earliest form called for grapefruit juice, with an egg white as an optional addition, while versions sharpened with lemon have long been common. The Gin Fizz it builds on holds a place among the IBA's official cocktails, but the sloe version carries no listing of its own.