Recreating the best gin fizz ever

Every once in a while I’ve ordered a drink having a good idea of what it will be like, only to be totally shocked when it arrives at my table. I had this happen to me last month while on my husband and I were on vacation. We had taken a catamaran to St. Barth’s for the day and stopped in the first bar we found at the Gustavia Marina.

Having been on a steady diet of rum-based cocktails for three days prior, I decided to branch out and order a gin fizz.

This is what was set in front of me:

Gin Fizz in St. Barth’s — note the empty space between the lime slice and the gin

The top part was almost like a lime sorbet, as opposed to the more traditional frothed egg white. But what really caught my eye was the placement of the lime slice. It was perfectly positioned in the center of the glass, keeping the contents of the cocktail separate.

When I moved the lime with the straw, breaking through the barrier and letting the layers collide, there was a serious fizz up that made me giggle like a little kid. While the taste was also spot on, the presentation of this cocktail alone made it my favorite of the whole trip. It was exactly the type of drink to be sipping on in such a chichi locale.

In fact, I loved it so much I ordered two more of them — it seemed like the right thing to do.

We did do some other stuff in St. Barth’s besides drink, I swear. We went snorkeling, had lunch and took a tour of the island. See…evidence:

One of the beaches — the day was a little overcast but it was still gorgeous.

Anyways, we’ve been back now for a month and the last week of work has been so stressful, I’ve been experiencing severe vacation withdrawal. We’ve also been enjoying a serious heat-wave here in Portland the past few days, so it seemed like the perfect time to try to recreate this dreamy drink at home.

My husband was kind enough to make me a batch of supremely awesome lime sorbet. It’s crazy good — tart and tangy, only slightly sweet and totally refreshing. I can’t keep my hands off of it. Luckily I had enough to whip up one of these last night and let me say — it was a home run!

I may not be in the Caribbean, but with one of these in my hands I can easily pretend.

Pretty good replica, don’t you think?

In the bottom of a champagne flute, I mixed a generous shot of gin with lime zest, a squeeze of lime juice and a glug of seltzer water. Next came the slice of lime (carefully squished in) and then the sorbet. If you don’t have any homemade sorbet — I’m trying to get my husband to write down the recipe he used — head to the store immediately. This is worth it.