Non-alcoholic recipe
Lime Rickey
Fresh lime and lively soda water make a brisk, pared-back refresher with just enough syrup to soften the edge.
Ingredients
- 25 ml fresh lime juice
- 15 ml 1:1 simple syrup (equal weights sugar and water)
- 150 ml soda water
Preparation
Add 25 ml freshly squeezed lime juice and 15 ml 1:1 simple syrup to a Collins glass. Fill with cubed ice, top with 150 ml chilled soda water and stir gently once or twice. Garnish with a lime wheel.
Glassware
Collins glass over cubed ice
Garnish
1 lime wheel
History
The original Rickey was a Washington, DC, highball associated with Shoomaker’s bar in the 1880s and with Joe Rickey and bartender George Williamson; authorship remains contested. It combined spirit, lime and carbonated water with little or no sugar. This spirit-free, slightly sweetened Mixology Lime Rickey is a contemporary adaptation, not the 1880s original.
Mixology View
The lime does most of the work, while the 15 ml of 1:1 syrup softens its sharpness. Readers seeking the classic Rickey’s dry character can reduce the syrup; that variation has not been separately taste-tested.
Ingredient note
This is a sweetened Lime Rickey variation; omit or adjust syrup only as a separate recipe variation.