There were a couple of great fizz recipes I came across for this month’s theme. The first is the Crushed Strawberry Fizz, a simple gin fizz with muddled strawberry that was popular at the St. Nicholas Hotel, NYC, in the 1880s. Then there’s the eponymous Elsie Ferguson Fizz (named for the star of stage and screen) from the 1910s (gin, lemon, strawberry, grenadine, cream, soda). I replaced the grenadine with strawberry syrup and added egg white and a little strawberry vermouth.

Ginger was an absolutely essential ingredient in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century American drinks, a fact borne out by flipping through period household manuals. These contain all manner of gingery “receipts,” from ginger wine to ginger pop, beer, and lemonade; it was also called upon as supporting character in all kinds of recipes. Our spicy ginger syrup provides a perfect base ales, beer, and pops!