Tom Collins
The Tom Collins cocktail is perhaps not the oldest cocktail still drank today but it is not far away. A good indicator of this is when a cocktail has the glass it is served in named after it!
The Tom Collins actually started its life with a slightly different name, as early as the late 18th century the cocktail named the John Collins was popularised at Limmer’s Old House, a London Hotel and coffee house. With almost the same ingredients as the modern Tom Collins, the John Collins used Genever instead of Gin.
Genever is the Dutch version of Gin, which was the precursor to Gin as we know it today, using no botanicals and only a small amount of juniper Genever is smoky and malty when compared to modern-day Gin. It is still very popular in Holland and Belgium, and there are still several tasty cocktails that use Genever for its malty accent, found especially in the Grand Genever (old/aged Genever).
The British were never going to be happy drinking the spirit introduced to them by the Dutch for very long, it wasn’t long before London distillers started getting serious resulting in Old Tom Gin and London Dry Gin being formulated for British tastes. Genever is made with grain spirit as its base, but the British started using more neutral base spirits which they would then add juniper and botanicals, and in the case of Old Tom Gin sugar was used. The Tom Collins came about when Old Tom Gin was used instead of Genever.
Anyway, back to Tom Collins the cocktail, as rare as it is to hear someone order a Tom Collins these days it really is a surprise as it is a great tasting and simple cocktail to make, the Tom Collins is one of those ultra refreshing cocktails that once you try it you will wonder what took you so long. It’s a really simple cocktail to make but is such a crowd-pleaser, especially on a warm summer’s evening.
60ml Dry Gin
25ml Fresh Lemon Juice
15ml Sugar Syrup
50ml Soda Water
Shake the first three ingredients with ice then strain into an ice-filled Collins glass and top up with Soda Water then stir. For the garnish make a sail with an Orange slice and a Maraschino Cherry.
