The first printed reference to "fiz" is in the appendix to the 1876 edition of Jerry Thomas's Bartender's Guide, which contains four such recipes. The fizz became widely popular in America between 1900 and the 1940s. Known as a hometown specialty of New Orleans, the gin fizz was so popular that bars would employ teams of bartenders that would take turns shaking the drinks. Demand for fizzes went international at least as early as 1950, as evidenced by its inclusion in the French cookbook L'Art Culinaire Francais published that year.
A traditional sloe gin fizz contains sloe gin (a blackthorn plum flavored spirit), grapefruit juice, simple syrup, egg white, and carbonated water. A popular alternative eliminates the egg white. The original recipe is made with grapefruit juice, because of the mixing of recipes you will find many recipes with lemon juice.