Second only to the Sazerac as New Orleans’s most famous and unusual cocktail, the Ramos gin fizz was created by a bar owner named Henry C. Ramos in the late nineteenth century and eventually became a trademark drink at the city’s famous Roosevelt Hotel Bar. Religiously made with gin (never vodka, blessedly), some form of cream, lemon juice, orange flower water, and egg whites, the Ramos gin fizz is a suave, relatively tame drink traditionally sipped in New Orleans before a genteel sit-down lunch—preferably in a shaded garden or on an elegant patio. Personally, I can’t imagine drinking a Ramos in a bar. Experts do agree that the cocktail needs a rigorous, lengthy shaking to achieve the perfect texture.