Cocktail recipe
Tom Collins
Gin, lemon and soda in the tall, endlessly refreshing original highball.
Ingredients
- 60 ml (2 oz) London dry gin
- 30 ml (1 oz) fresh lemon juice
- 20 ml (⅔ oz) simple syrup (1:1)
- 90 ml (3 oz) chilled soda water
- Garnish: lemon wheel and cocktail cherry
Preparation
Shake gin, lemon and syrup briefly with ice, strain over fresh cubes in a tall Collins glass and top slowly with cold soda. Give one gentle lift with the spoon, then add the lemon wheel and cherry. Keep the bubbles lively.
Glassware
Collins glass, cubed ice
History
The Tom Collins grew out of the 19th-century gin punch and Collins family. Jerry Thomas’s 1876 *Bartenders Guide* includes a Tom Collins made with Old Tom gin; that sweetened gin explains the drink’s name more securely than stories about a specific bartender called Tom. The 1874 “Tom Collins hoax,” a widespread practical joke about an imaginary slanderer, helped make the phrase famous, though whether it directly named the drink remains debated. London dry gin is the modern standard and makes a drier drink than many early versions.
Mixology View
A Collins should be generous and simple. We acknowledge Old Tom as the historically relevant base while using London dry gin as a crisp modern house choice.