Mixlio
Highball · Party · Summer
Tom Collins
A John Collins poured with Old Tom gin instead of dry. Rounder and a touch sweeter, with the same long lemon-and-soda finish.
- Base
- Gin
- Glass
- Collins glass
- Method
- Build
- Strength
- 12.12% ABV
Ingredients
Servings
45 mlOld Tom Gin1 swap
London dry ginhighDrier and sharper — that is the John Collins
Add 5 ml more syrup to match
- 30 mlFresh Lemon Juice
- 15 mlSimple Syrup
- 60 mlSoda Water
How to make
Technique
Build · 10–15sBuilding straight in the glass keeps it simple and preserves any fizz.
- Build the Old Tom gin, lemon juice and syrup in a Collins glass filled with ice.
- Top with soda water and 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 dryBalanced
Estimated from ingredient amounts and assumed ABVs — not a lab measurement.
Good to know
- Old Tom is sweeter than dry gin, so pull the syrup back if your bottle is a rich one.
- Build it in the glass and stir once — soda loses its fizz to over-stirring.
History
Year1800s
PlaceLondon, England
Collins drinks come from 19th-century London, where the lightly sweetened Old Tom style was the gin most bars had. When dry gin took over, the same drink made with dry gin took the name John Collins and the Old Tom version kept Tom. The two names have been swapped so often since that plenty of bars treat them as one drink — the classic specs still separate them by the gin.
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