Fitzgerald
A Fitzgerald is 60ml of London Dry gin, 25ml of fresh lemon juice, 20ml of sugar syrup and two dashes of Angostura, shaken hard with ice for 10 to 12 seconds and strained over fresh ice in a rocks glass, with a lemon wheel or wedge. About 2.5 UK units. It is our Gin Sour with the bitters shaken in. Difford’s Guide credits the drink to Dale DeGroff at the Rainbow Room in New York in the early 1990s, and DeGroff says he came up with it on a busy shift at the Promenade Bar. Two dashes change more than the measure suggests. Shaken through, the Angostura darkens the middle with clove and dries the finish, and a bright daytime sour becomes an evening one.
Glassware: Rocks Glass
Garnish: Lemon wheel or wedge
Ingredients
60ml
A London Dry at 40% ABV or slightly stronger. Clear juniper gives the clove in the bitters something to sit against; without juniper the bitters have nothing to play off.
20ml
Sugar and water, one to one by weight, at the Gin Sour’s 20ml. Hold it there and let the bitters do the drying.
2 dashes
Two dashes, shaken in. In our view clove and gentian darken the middle of the drink and dry the finish; floated on top, they only scent it.
Instructions
Squeeze the lemon juice the same day.
Fill a rocks glass with fresh cubed ice.
Add the gin, lemon juice, sugar syrup and Angostura to a shaker.
Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Strain over the fresh ice.
Garnish with a lemon wheel or wedge.
Our version
Our Gin Sour’s 60ml gin, 25ml lemon and 20ml sugar syrup with two dashes of Angostura shaken in. Difford’s Guide, adapting DeGroff’s recipe, uses 50ml of gin, 22.5ml of lemon, 15ml of 2:1 cane sugar syrup and three dashes.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Shake the bitters in with everything else. Shaken through, they dry the whole drink and darken its middle; dashed on top, they only scent the surface, which is a smaller effect. Two dashes is the measure. At four the clove leads and the gin recedes; at one you have a Gin Sour with a rumour attached. Leave the syrup at 20ml. The bitters do the drying, so there is no need to pull sugar back to make room for them.
Behind the Fitzgerald
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
The Oxford Companion says Dale DeGroff ran the bar of the Rainbow Room in New York, where he reintroduced classic techniques and revived pre-Prohibition cocktails, and names the Fitzgerald, a summer gin drink, among his signatures there. Difford’s Guide dates the Fitzgerald to the early 1990s, there.
In his own words, quoted by Difford’s Guide from The New Craft of the Cocktail (2020), he came up with it on a busy shift at the Promenade Bar for a guest bored with gin and tonic, and it has since appeared on craft menus around the world. Copenhagen Distillery says it is named after the author F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The Bitters Move
Angostura shaken through a sour behaves differently from bitters dashed on top.
On the surface, bitters are aroma: clove and gentian on the nose, then they fade. Shaken in, they change the structure. The clove darkens the middle and the gentian dries the finish, so the drink reads deeper and less sweet with nothing taken away.
DeGroff’s and Ours
The Fitzgerald as Difford’s Guide gives it, adapted from Dale DeGroff’s recipe, beside ours
Gin
- Difford’s Guide, adapted from DeGroff
- 50ml London Dry
- Ours
- 60ml London Dry
Lemon juice
- Difford’s Guide, adapted from DeGroff
- 22.5ml
- Ours
- 25ml
Syrup
- Difford’s Guide, adapted from DeGroff
- 15ml of 2:1 cane sugar syrup
- Ours
- 20ml sugar syrup
Angostura
- Difford’s Guide, adapted from DeGroff
- Three dashes
- Ours
- Two dashes, shaken in
Glass
- Difford’s Guide, adapted from DeGroff
- Old-fashioned glass
- Ours
- Rocks glass, over fresh ice
Garnish
- Difford’s Guide, adapted from DeGroff
- A lemon slice wheel
- Ours
- A lemon wheel or wedge
| Element | Difford’s Guide, adapted from DeGroff | Ours |
|---|---|---|
| Gin | 50ml London Dry | 60ml London Dry |
| Lemon juice | 22.5ml | 25ml |
| Syrup | 15ml of 2:1 cane sugar syrup | 20ml sugar syrup |
| Angostura | Three dashes | Two dashes, shaken in |
| Glass | Old-fashioned glass | Rocks glass, over fresh ice |
| Garnish | A lemon slice wheel | A lemon wheel or wedge |
Against a Plain Gin Sour
The Gin Sour is the same 60ml of gin, 25ml of lemon and 20ml of syrup, shaken and strained: bright, direct and a daytime drink.
Add two dashes and the same build turns towards evening. The finish dries, a spice note appears under the citrus, and the drink gains a weight the plain version lacks.
One Change
The Fitzgerald adds no new bottle, technique or equipment. It changes one thing, and that is enough.
It sits with the Gold Rush and the Tommy’s Margarita among modern classics built by a single substitution or addition rather than by piling on liqueurs. Anyone building a new drink can learn more from them than from a fourth bottle.
How to Serve It
Strained over fresh ice in a rocks glass, with a lemon wheel or wedge.
Make it at home
The Spirit
GinGin is a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. Under the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008, juniper must lead the taste, the floor is 37.5% ABV, and the route the flavour takes sets the grade: plain gin, distilled gin or London gin. Our recipes count it at 40%, and it carries the Martini, the Negroni and the Gin and Tonic.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
Who created the Fitzgerald?
What do the bitters change?
How is it different from a Gin Sour?
Can I just dash the bitters on top?
How strong is a Fitzgerald?
Can I make a Fitzgerald with vodka?
How does DeGroff’s recipe compare?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- Difford’s Guide, “Fitzgerald” (secondary source: adapted from a recipe created in the early 1990s by Dale DeGroff at the Rainbow Room; DeGroff, The New Craft of the Cocktail, 2020: came up with it on a busy shift at the Rainbow Room Promenade Bar for a customer bored with Gin and Tonic; 50ml gin, 22.5ml lemon, 15ml cane sugar syrup (2 sugar to 1 water), 3 dashes Angostura, old-fashioned glass, lemon slice wheel).
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (William Grimes), “The Rainbow Room bar” (secondary source: the Promenade Bar of the Rainbow Room, run by Dale DeGroff, closed in 1998; his signatures included the Fitzgerald, a summer gin drink).
- Copenhagen Distillery, “Fitzgerald” (distillery recipe page: first made by Dale DeGroff in the 1990s, named after the famous author and drinker, F. Scott Fitzgerald).
- DrinkSupermarket, “Angostura Aromatic Bitters 200ml” (retailer listing: Strength (ABV)% 44.7).
You Might Also Like
Gin Sour
A Gin Sour is 60ml of London Dry gin, 25ml of fresh lemon juice and 20ml of sugar syrup, shaken hard with ice for 10 to 12 seconds and strained over fresh ice in a rocks glass, with a lemon wheel and a cherry. About 2.4 UK units. Add 15ml of egg white for a silkier version, dry shaken first; it is raw, so leave it out for anyone allergic to egg. It is the plain sour with gin as the spirit. Difford’s Guide says Jerry Thomas’s 1862 bar guide has a Gin Sour, and the frame of spirit, citrus and sugar runs under most gin classics since: the White Lady sweetens it with orange liqueur, the Bee’s Knees with honey, the Clover Club with raspberry. With only three ingredients the gin has nowhere to hide. A juniper-led London Dry gives the classic reading; a citrus or floral gin changes the drink more than any change of measure.
Gold Rush
A Gold Rush is 60ml bourbon, 22.5ml fresh lemon juice and 22.5ml honey syrup, made with twice as much honey as warm water. Shake it hard for 10 to 12 seconds, strain it onto a single big cube in a rocks glass and finish with a lemon twist. About 2.4 UK units. Punch credits T.J. Siegal, at Milk & Honey in New York, with the idea sometime in 2000, and VinePair dates the drink to 2001. T.J. Siegal, a friend of the owner, Sasha Petraske, ordered his usual Whiskey Sour and asked for it without the egg white and with honey syrup in place of sugar. The change stuck, and the drink became a modern standard. Honey does more than sweeten. It tastes faintly of flowers and wax, gives the drink weight that sugar syrup cannot, and sits comfortably with the vanilla and caramel in bourbon. With no egg and no bitters, the Gold Rush is plainer and heavier than a Whiskey Sour, and quicker to make.
Pegu Club
A Pegu Club is 60ml of London Dry gin, 22.5ml of orange curaçao, 22.5ml of fresh lime juice, a dash of Angostura and a dash of orange bitters, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with a lime wheel. About 3.4 UK units. It is named for the Pegu Club in Rangoon, now Yangon, a gentlemen’s club in the old British colonial outpost of Rangoon that, the Oxford Companion says, was founded in 1871. The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails gives Harry McElhone’s Barflies and Cocktails of 1927 as the earliest known reference; Difford’s Guide gives his 1923 ABC of Mixing Cocktails, and the Internet Archive scan of that book prints it as No. 197. The Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930 calls it one that has travelled, and is asked for, round the world. There is no syrup. The curaçao is the only sweetener, the lime is matched to it measure for measure, and the gin is close to two thirds of the drink, so it runs dry and strong. The two bitters, one dash each, give the finish its spice and peel.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026