The hotel's bar, Loa, will present an Armstrong-themed libation – an improvizational riff on a Ramos' Gin Fizz, the bon vivant's favorite New Orleans cocktail. This drink was originally called the "New Orleans Fizz.” But, we dub ours "Laughing ‘Looie’" after a song Armstrong recorded in 1933, in the prime of this cocktail's popularity.
The hotel's bar, Loa, will present an Armstrong-themed libation – an improvizational riff on a Ramos' Gin Fizz, the bon vivant's favorite New Orleans cocktail. This drink was originally called the "New Orleans Fizz.” But, we dub ours "Laughing ‘Looie’" after a song Armstrong recorded in 1933, in the prime of this cocktail's popularity. The drink was invented in 1888 by Henry Ramos at the Imperial Cabinet Saloon, just a few doors down from us at the corner of Carondelet and Gravier streets. It's made with gin, lemon, lime, cream, sugar, egg white, orange flower water and soda. When mixed and shaken extremely well – and we mean like a forever-long-twelve-minute-mixing-time – the drink comes alive with a striking meringue top and an ethereal, cloud-like lightness.
The legendary drink became wildly popular between 1900 and the 1940s. Known as a hometown specialty of New Orleans, the gin fizz was in such demand that Ramos had to employ teams of bartenders – thirty-five “shaker boys” – who would take turns making the drinks as their arms tired from all that shaking. Variations on the recipe using nuts or fruit date back to its inception. The “Laughing ‘Looie” employs nectarine, a fixture in our local farmers markets during these hot months - situating the libation not just here, in New Orleans, but concurrent with the season of his favorite sport. Armstrong loved baseball so much that he sponsored his own semi-professional team, the Secret Nine. But back to booze...the gin we pour is the sublime London No. 1, whose botanicals include gardenia and bergamot, “pinch hitting” for the orange flower water. To save your pitching arm and maybe ours too, Laughing Looie’stexture is leavened in a mere four minutes with homemade creme fraiche, the nonpareil of creams, dry, rich and wonderfully bittersweet.
All told, the drink is at once a nod to Armstrong's elegance – his legendary personal style as well as excellence in craft – and to the Secret Nine’s “finest whitest uniforms ever seen on the sandlots of the Big Easy.”
“ Laughing Looie " 2 oz London No. 1 Gin 1 oz Créme Fraiche 1/2 oz Fresh Lime Juice 1/2 oz Fresh Lemon Juice 3/4 oz Fresh Nectarine Syrup ( * ) 1 Large Egg White 1oz Chilled Soda Water
Combine all but soda and dry-shake for 5 min., then add ice to and shake 2 more min. Add soda to shaker, strain into hi ball glass. Pour so that the foam head rises above the top of the glass.
(*) Nectarine Syrup (12 ounces): Combine 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of water and bring to simmer. Add 5 thin slices of fresh nectarine, and simmer for 20 min. Spice lightly with cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Strain and cool. Should be enough for the starting nine + three designated drinkers.