Time for a Drink: Tom Collins
Let's start the weekend right—with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? That kinda week, eh? Here you go. Cheers!
I'll go out on a limb here and assume it’s still summer around the country—even if it doesn't feel like that where I am in Seattle, with our overcast skies and highs in the mid-60s. While I’m seething with envy at everyone with seasonally appropriate Labor Day weather, I’ll offer up a true summer classic that seems custom-built for a long holiday weekend at the close of summer.
Quick Tom Collins History
The Tom Collins dates back more than a century and a half, but its welcoming crispness keeps it fresh always. So established in the libational world, the Tom Collins even has its own eponymous glass (tall, with plenty of room for ice). Over the years, the drink has faced some challenges—bottles of Holland House Collins Mix in my parents' liquor cabinet spring to mind. Was squeezing a lemon really so difficult? But successfully navigating its course from horse-and-carriage days to the digital age, the Tom Collins is built for survival. Keep some lemons and soda water on-hand this weekend and knock together a Collins in between grilling stints.
Tom Collins
Ingredients
2 ounces gin
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 teaspoon sugar (preferably superfine)
Chilled club soda
Procedure
Add gin, lemon and sugar to a Collins glass and stir to dissolve sugar (you can instead use simple syrup and make the process easier). Fill glass with large chunks of ice and top with chilled club soda. Insert straw and do what comes natural.
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5 Comments:
this is my favorite drink to order in a bar - I always get funny looks. apparently 24 year old girls don't often order "old man" drinks.
ha.
unarata at 12:37AM on 08/30/08
I am known as the queen of the vodka collins. One of my many voddie favs.
I don't drink gin.
JerzeeTomato at 1:08AM on 08/30/08
The Tom Collins in second only to the gimlet in my book of summer cocktails. I like mine with Bombay (Dry, not Sapphire). And if collins mix gets anywhere near my drink I'm going to be cranky.
gwenkern at 10:25AM on 08/30/08
We love this classic cocktail ! You're right, what a great cocktail to close out summer! Recently, we made a blackberry version of the Tom Collins and it was a hit at our parties. http://whiteonricecouple.com/blog/?p=291
White On Rice Couple at 10:46AM on 08/30/08
Tom Collins is my favourite drink and has been for some time ... again, I too get funny looks as a twenty-something gal. But then again I've been known to order campari as well ...
robin170 at 5:44AM on 09/01/08