John Collins

[Dave the Cook]

A lovely package arrived in the post yesterday: a generous friend had sent me a copy of Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide. Since I'm about to teach a cocktail class including the John Collins, and my teaching partner thought it would be a good idea to have a few notes on the drink, I figured I'd see what Mr. Bergeron had to say about it.

Going to the recipe from the index, this is what I found:

1 oz lemon juice

1/2 oz sugar syrup

1 oz bourbon

1/2 lime

Club soda

I browsed a bit, and realized I was in the "Whisky" section of the book.

Call me naive. I learned the John Collins from Dave Wondrich's Killer Cocktails, where Wondrich seems to attempt to recreate the Gin Punch from London's Garrick Club (feel free to correct me, Mr. Wondrich -- I pieced that together from your spiel in Imbibe!):

2 oz Bols Genever gin

1/2 oz lemon juice

1-1/2 t maraschino

fizz water

I checked a couple of other books: Joy of Mixology; Harrington's Cocktail; my copy of Duffy. The first two call for bourbon; the latter for Holland gin. Now, I buy the nation that "Tom" replaced "John" as an unintended consequence of the drink's being unleashed in the US (supported by a childish but effective trick for gaining a seat at a crowded bar). What I don't understand is the switch to bourbon as the apparent standard base spirit (Harrington calls it "the accepted and 'correct'recipe). When did that happen?

[eje]

Well, in most of my older bar books, Tom Collins is made with Old-Tom, Dry Gin, or "1 Drink any Gin desired" and John Collins is made with "Holland Gin".

In some there is also a "Tom Collins Whiskey" which is, well, made with whiskey.

Embury has some enlightening information in his book.

The adoption of London dry gin as a Collins base gave rise to two schools of nomenclature.  With one school it was simply substituted for Old Tom gin in the Tom Collins.  The other school, however, preferred to retain the Tom Collins name for the original drink made with Old Tom gin and, since Holland gin was practically never used any more in a Collins, they transferred the John Collins name to the Collins made with London Dry gin.  This accounts for the confusion that exists in present day books of recipes.

Embury goes on to delineate his preferences for Collins names thusly:

Tom Collins--Gin, if made with old-tom, use less sugar

John Collins--Holland Gin

Colonel Collins or Bourbon Collins--Bourbon Whiskey

Mike Collins or Irish Collins--Irish Whiskey

Jack Collins or Apple Collins--Applejack

Pedro Collins or Rum Collins--Rum

Pierre Collins or Brandy Collins--Cognac

Sandy Collins or Scotch Collins--Scotch

Rye Collins--Rye

Vodka Collins--vodka

Canadian Collins--Canadian Whisky

Tequila Collins--Tequila

Whew!

[eas]

Is there no Phil Collins?