What does a Tom Collins taste like?
A Tom Collins tastes like sparkling lemonade with gin: tart lemon, a little sugar and the piney herbs of gin, topped with soda and served tall over ice.
Tom Collins
fizzy gin lemonade
A Tom Collins is gin, fresh lemon juice and sugar, topped with soda water in a tall glass full of ice. It tastes like a grown-up sparkling lemonade: tangy and lightly sweet, with gin's pine and citrus peel running underneath and plenty of fizz. The soda stretches it out, so it's light and easy compared with a gin sour. It's one of those drinks that's hard to get wrong, and it's great when you want something long and cold rather than strong.
Where you’ll see it
On classic cocktail lists and bar rail menus, in a tall Collins glass with a lemon wheel and cherry. A John Collins swaps in whiskey, and bars often do fruit or herb versions.
Order it if you want a light, fizzy, lemony drink that still tastes like gin.
Quick questions
- What's the difference between a Tom Collins and a gin fizz?
- Almost the same ingredients. A Collins is served tall over ice with more soda. A fizz is shaken harder, served shorter and with no ice, and is often made with egg white.
- Is a Tom Collins sweet?
- Lightly. It tastes balanced, like a good lemonade, and the soda keeps it from ever tasting syrupy.