Gin Fizz

Love in the Ruins, Walker Percy, 1971

1½ oz. gin

1 oz. fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon simple syrup

1 egg white

Club soda, to top

Chill a Collins glass in the freezer.

Place all of the ingredients, except for the club soda, in a cocktail shaker and dry shake for 15 to 20 seconds. Fill the shaker one-quarter of the way with ice and shake for 3 to 5 minutes.

Pour the cocktail into a chilled Collins glass, top with club soda until a foamy head forms, and enjoy.

I’ve tossed off the whole drink somewhat nervously before it comes over me that it is a gin fizz. Oh well, I've got anti-allergy pills with me. The drink is deliciously cool and silky with albumen.

The Gin Fizz features prominently in Percy’s speculative fiction about a future where the United States is fragmented along political and racial lines. Meant as a commentary on the upheavals of the 1960s, it seems as relevant now as ever. The main character, Dr. Thomas More, has invented a device that might help ease some social ills, but of course, there are those in the government who want to use it for their own purposes. Also, More is allergic to his favorite drink, and has to keep allergy pills on hand. Talk about a dystopia!