Highball · Party · Summer

John Collins

Gin, lemon and sugar in a tall glass, soda on top, ice all the way up. A gin sour you can nurse for an hour.

Base: Gin
Glass: Collins glass
Method: Build
Strength: 12.12% ABV

Ingredients

45 mlGin1 swap
Any London dry ginhigh
Depends on the brand’s botanicals
30 mlFresh Lemon Juice1 swap
Fresh lime juicemedium
A touch sharper
15 mlSimple Syrup1 swap
Sugar syrup or agavehigh
Little change
60 mlSoda Water

How to make

Technique

Build · 10–15s

Building straight in the glass keeps it simple and preserves any fizz.

Pour all ingredients directly into highball filled with ice.
Stir gently.

Serve

Glass

Collins glassAlso fine: Highball glass, Tall tumbler

Garnish

Garnish with lemon slice and maraschino cherry.Spear them together so they sit above the ice instead of sinking.

Taste & nutrition

12.12%ABV

184kcal

1.61Drinks

StrengthLight

Sweet to dryDry

Estimated from ingredient amounts and assumed ABVs — not a lab measurement.

Good to know

Use freshly squeezed juice — bottled tastes flat.
Add the fizzy mixer last so it keeps its bubbles.

History

Year1800s

PlaceLondon, England

Created byUnknown (Limmer’s Hotel)

The John Collins — gin, lemon, sugar and soda — grew out of the gin punches served at Limmer's Hotel in 19th-century London. It is named for John Collins, a head waiter there famous for the drink. When Old Tom gin gave way to London Dry, the same recipe became widely known as the Tom Collins. A tall, sparkling and thoroughly refreshing classic.

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