Cocktail · Medium strength
Tom Collins
Gin, lemon, sugar, soda — lemonade that went to finishing school.
How to order it: Tall glass, plenty of ice, cherry and orange if you're feeling classic.
Flavor profile
The recipe
- 2 oz gin
- 1 oz lemon juice
- ½ oz simple syrup
- Top with club soda
- Collins glass; cherry and orange
The story
The name is likely a joke that outlived its punchline. In 1874, a craze swept American cities: tell a friend that one 'Tom Collins' had been slandering them in a nearby bar, then watch them storm off hunting a man who didn't exist. When Jerry Thomas printed a Tom Collins recipe in his 1876 guide, the gag got a body. The drink itself descends from the gin punches of John Collins, a celebrated headwaiter at Limmer's Hotel in London, with 'Tom' likely nodding to the sweetened Old Tom gin it used. It endures because gin, lemon, sugar, and soda is summer's most patient drink — tall, cold, and in no hurry.
Adjacent pours