The story goes that the drink stems from the Tom Collins Hoax of 1874, a practical joke which saw an individual tell another that someone named Tom Collins was speaking ill of them at a nearby bar, sending that person off to find 'Tom Collins'. An innovating bartender turned this name into a drink, to be served to those looking for the mysterious Tom Collins, and the name stuck - eventually becoming memorialised in print by the first ever cocktail book; Jerry Thomas' Bon Vivant's Companion.
Ingredients
50ml 1689 Dutch Dry Gin
25ml lemon juice
25ml sugar syrup
125ml chilled soda water
Method
Shake you gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a Highball or Collins glass over ice and top with soda water. Garnish with a lemon twist.
