Tom Collins

No collection of cocktail recipes is complete without the classic TOM COLLINS. The first Tom Collins recipe dates back to early 1876, making it truly historic — Ulysses S. Grant was still President. Tall bar glasses inherited the name, a collins glass. I’ve got a personal sentiment for it because it was the first drink I ordered at a bar in New York after taking home my first non-hourly pay check. It was also one of the most common drink orders I received as a waiter a few years earlier. And now, as we quarantine through spring and head toward the summer, it makes a nice refresher for the warmer weather, historic or not.

Requirements: Gin (dry is fine), lemon juice, simple syrup, club soda or seltzer, maraschino cherry, lemon slice for garnish

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 oz. fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• Club soda (or seltzer)
• 1 maraschino cherry & 1 lemon slice for garnish

Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker filled with only four ice cubes (to avoid making it watery) and shake until chilled. Strain into a collins or highball glass filled with ice cubes. Top with club soda or seltzer. Stir with the long handle of a bar spoon. Garnish with a maraschino cherry and lemon slice, skewered together.

Note: Recipes for simple syrup range from 1/2 ounce to 1 ounce in the proportions of gin and lemon juice above. Judge for yourself, depending on your propensity for sweet verses sour.