The Tom Collins is what happens when you take a Gin Sour and lengthen it with soda water: a tall, fizzing glass of essentially spiked, sparkling lemonade. A nineteenth-century classic, it is the original template for the entire "Collins" family of long, soda-topped drinks.
A Sour, Lengthened
The core is the timeless sour formula — gin, fresh lemon, and sugar in balance. The soda water does not change that balance so much as stretch it: the same flavours, longer, lighter, and effervescent.
Because soda dilutes as well as lengthens, the sour base should be built a touch firmer than usual — a little more lemon, a little more sugar — so it still has presence once the soda goes in.
Tall, Cold, and Fizzing
It takes its name from the glass it built — the tall, narrow Collins glass. Fill it with ice, build the drink, and top with cold soda so the carbonation survives.
A lemon wheel and a cherry are the traditional finish. Cousins are everywhere: a John Collins swaps in whiskey, and a Tom Collins made with club soda over a sweeter base edges toward the Gin Fizz.
Variations
The Collins built on bourbon — tall, fizzy, with a whiskey backbone.
- 2 ozBourbon
- 1 ozLemon juice
- 1/2 ozSimple syrup
The Collins at its most neutral — vodka for the gin, letting the lemon lead.
- 2 ozVodka
- 1 ozLemon juice
- 1/2 ozSimple syrup
The rum Collins — light rum for the gin, a faint sugarcane warmth.
- 2 ozLight rum
- 1 ozLemon juice
- 1/2 ozSimple syrup