-->

• The Tom Collins is a cocktail comprised of gin, sugar and lemon juice. Some recipes include club soda. Sour mix is frequently used as a substitute for the sugar and lemon juice.

• Fast Facts

  1. First written record of the drink: 1876Oh Gosh!: A Toast to Old Tom
  2. Can be garnished with cherry, orange, lemon, or lime
  3. Served in a Collins glass

• What's in a name?

  The first legend about the naming of the drink maintains that the drink was created by a London bartender named John Collins with a brand of pre-sweetened gin called Old Tom. The combination of the two names was used to baptize the cocktail as a Tom Collins.

  
  Another story has the original drink being called a John Collins after the Dutch word for gin, jenever. When the John Collins was made with Old Tom gin, it was then referred to as a Tom Collins.CHOW: Tom Collins

  
  Others maintain that the drink originated in America as a prank that sprung up in 1874. Supposedly, one friend would tell another that they had heard a man named Tom Collins saying libelous things about him in a bar down the street. The victim would then race into the bar demanding to see "Tom Collins." As this spread across the country, bartenders took advantage of the demand for "Tom Collins" by creating a drink named after the fictional scoundrel.Wall Street Journal: In Search of the Real Tom Collins

• Related Mahalo Pages

  How to Become a Bartender | How to Make Lemonade | Gin | Summer Cocktails | Lemons | Sugar

Categories

• View History
• Discuss on the Message Board
• Embed this Page
• Share this page