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CALL 03333 44 77 65
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"The Tom Collins is one of the oldest and most classic high-ball cocktails, a simple combination of gin, lemon and sugar, topped with a generous splash of soda.."

How to make ...

Tom Collins

The Tom Collins is one of the oldest and most classic highball cocktails, a simple combination of gin, lemon and sugar, topped with a generous splash of soda.

Method

Take your Boston glass or small tin and, using your jigger to measure, add the gin and sugar syrup to the shaker.

Using your Mexican elbow and a igger to measure, squeeze 25ml of lemon juice and add it to the shaker.

Fill your shaker with cubed ice and seal using your Boston tin or lid, before shaking vigorously for 10-15 seconds or until your tin is very cold.

Find yourself a highball glass and fill with cubed ice.

Using your Hawthorne strainer, strain the cocktail into the glass and fill to the top with soda water.

Garnish with a lemon wedge, serve and enjoy!

History

The Tom Collins has been around in some form or another since at least the late 19th century. It’s first published appearance was in the second edition of Jerry Thomas’ Bartenders Guide or How to Mix Drinks in 1876. The naming of the drink is under some contention, in Thomas’s original book the name Tom Collins is given to a whole family of drinks combining lemon, sugar, soda water and a liquor of choice, and it wasn’t until later that it became chiefly associated with gin.

Some accounts attribute the name to an English bartender named John Collins. John Collins worked at the Limmer’s hotel in London during the 1870’s and 80’s where the gin based drink was a hugely popular serve, some contest that the name came from John Collins and was changed to Tom due to the inclusion of Old Tom gin, a slightly sweeter variety of gin popular in England at the time. Whichever story is true, the Tom Collins has definitely existed for nearly 150 years making it one of the oldest drinks in the cocktail canon.

The Tom Collins is named after the gin used in the original recipe, a style of gin that has become less popular with time. Old Tom is a deliberately sweeter gin that would have suited the palate of the day more and also go a long way to cover up any roughness created by a poorly made spirit.

Allergens
Suitable for vegetarians and vegans. No common allergens to be found, although, since every body is different, we advise you check out this recipe's ingredients list just to be sure!
Ingredients

50ml Gin

25ml Lemon Juice/p>

12.5ml Sugar Syrup

Soda Top

Lemon Wedge to Garnish

Times:

Prep: 2 Minutes

Make: 30 Seconds

Total: 2 Minutes and 30 Seconds

Calories:

177 calories

Servings:

Serves 1

Method

Take your Boston glass or small tin and, using your jigger to measure, add the gin and sugar syrup to the shaker.

Using your Mexican elbow and a igger to measure, squeeze 25ml of lemon juice and add it to the shaker.

Fill your shaker with cubed ice and seal using your Boston tin or lid, before shaking vigorously for 10-15 seconds or until your tin is very cold.

Find yourself a highball glass and fill with cubed ice.

Using your Hawthorne strainer, strain the cocktail into the glass and fill to the top with soda water.

Garnish with a lemon wedge, serve and enjoy!

History

The Tom Collins has been around in some form or another since at least the late 19th century. It’s first published appearance was in the second edition of Jerry Thomas’ Bartenders Guide or How to Mix Drinks in 1876. The naming of the drink is under some contention, in Thomas’s original book the name Tom Collins is given to a whole family of drinks combining lemon, sugar, soda water and a liquor of choice, and it wasn’t until later that it became chiefly associated with gin.

Some accounts attribute the name to an English bartender named John Collins. John Collins worked at the Limmer’s hotel in London during the 1870’s and 80’s where the gin based drink was a hugely popular serve, some contest that the name came from John Collins and was changed to Tom due to the inclusion of Old Tom gin, a slightly sweeter variety of gin popular in England at the time. Whichever story is true, the Tom Collins has definitely existed for nearly 150 years making it one of the oldest drinks in the cocktail canon.

The Tom Collins is named after the gin used in the original recipe, a style of gin that has become less popular with time. Old Tom is a deliberately sweeter gin that would have suited the palate of the day more and also go a long way to cover up any roughness created by a poorly made spirit.

Allergens
Suitable for vegetarians and vegans. No common allergens to be found, although, since every body is different, we advise you check out this recipe's ingredients list just to be sure!
Recommended

The Tom Collins is one of the oldest and most classic high-ball cocktails, a simple combination of gin, lemon and sugar, topped with a generous splash of soda.

This perfectly honed concoction is a deliciously light and elegant cocktail and a sure-fire hit at any bar hire. The Tom Collins is the original fizz and in fact, the glass most often used for fizzes, the high-ball takes its other name from this drink, often being referred to as a ‘Collins glass.’

Fizzes like the Tom Collins are a great way to balance out a menu populated by short strong cocktails, like a classics selection or a sours menu. Because of the added soda water, fizzes are a long and refreshing way of drinking making them perfect for long parties or hot summer days.

Many sours can be converted into fizzes with the simple addition of soda water, so if you’re already thinking of serving drinks like The Empress; a lychee and elderflower flavoured vodka sour, or the Daiquiri; a classic rum and lime sour, offering fizz-styled alternatives is an easy and effective way to please guests who prefer their cocktails on the lighter side.

If you’re planning on serving a Tom Collins as part of your cocktail menu and want to know what other drinks might work well with it, be sure to speak to your event organiser about your options or check out some other gin-based, classic and high-ball-style cocktails from our list.

Video Transcription

Hi guys, this is Sasā from TT Liquor. And today you’ll be watching a video of how to make a classic Tom Collins. We joined forces with our friends from Cabby’s Gin. And here’s the video of how to make that delicious classic cocktail.

 

Today I’m going to be showing you how to make another really classic cocktail. We are going to be making a Tom Collins. First thing I need is, of course, some gin. And we’re going to be using this really nice Cabby’s Gin made by the Taxi Spirit Company. Really nice small batch gin made right here in East London. Now, I want 50ml of my Cabby’s Gin.

 

Next thing going in here is going to be some sugar syrup or gomme. So we’ve got this lovely Monin gomme syrup, and I want about 15ml of my gomme syrup.

 

Now I want 25ml or one shot of my lemon juice. And that is 25ml of my lemon juice.

 

Last thing to go in there of course, is just going to be some cubed ice. I’ll grab my big tin, pop it on top, give it a nice big smack to seal it. And we’ll give that good old shake for around about 10 to 15 seconds. Here we go.

 

Lovely. Pop that open. And I’m just going to single strain our mixture into the bottom of that glass, like so. Fill that glass up with some fresh cubed ice.

 

So we’ve got this nice Fever Tree soda water and use that just to top up our Tom Collins.

 

Just give that (lemon twist) a little twist over the top of the glass to expel some of those oils, swirl it into a nice little spiral. We’ll pop that on the side of the glass. And that is our Tom Collins ready to drink.