In last week’s newsletter, I argued that you could transform just about any basic gin sour into a Collins by using a simple, standard ratio and a bit of technique.

The examples I gave were the Bee’s Knees, the Gimlet, and the very, very basic Gin Sour, all of which make delightful Collins-style drinks with the addition of ice, seltzer, and a bit of salt solution. 

But you can also execute this same sort of transformation on a lesser-known gin sour that we looked at earlier this year — the Fitzgerald, a Dale DeGroff drink that takes the gin sour format and adds a few dashes of bitters.

This drink follows the same structure as the Universal Collins, but with one critical difference: Instead of salt solution, it relies on Angostura Aromatic Bitters. 

Adding a few drops of Angostura bitters to a drink might seem like a pretty small change, but like DeGroff’s Fitzgerald, this cocktail shows the power of bitters to radically reshape a drink’s flavor profile.

Bitters add distinctive spice and depth to a cocktail, connecting and fortifying other ingredients. In the Fitzgerald Collins, they literally darken the drink, taking this sparkling gin sour from light and bright to moody and complex with just a few easy dashes. 

Fitzgerald Collins

• 3 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters

• ¾ ounce fresh lemon juice

• ¾ ounce rich (2:1) simple syrup*

• 1 ½ ounce dry gin, such as Beefeater or Tanqueray

• 3 ounces chilled seltzer

INSTRUCTIONS 

1. Fill a tall glass with ice, then add seltzer. 

2. In a cocktail shaker, combine remaining ingredients, then add a small amount of ice — just a few cubes — and shake briefly. 

3. Strain mix from cocktail shaker into glass on top of ice and seltzer. 

4. Garnish with a strip of orange peel. (Optional, but adds visual appeal and a whiff of orange.) Drink through a straw. 

*Rich (2:1) simple syrup: In a blender, combine two parts sugar and one part water, by weight, so for example 400 grams sugar and 200 grams water. Blend on high for 2-3 minutes, until fully integrated. Bottle and store in the fridge. Keeps for at least a month.

My Previous Large Dog Was Named Fitzgerald. He Was a Good Boy.