Tom Collins, and His Brother

Chances are you've already met the Collins boys. These tall summer soldiers returned from the first World War as popular summer slings to be ordered at any reputable watering hole.

The oldest sibling - the Tom Collins - is made with 2 ounces gin, 1 ounce lemon juice, and a teaspoon of sugar, and topped with soda water. It's the overshadowing patriarch of the Collins family, which makes us sympathetic to the other brother, the forgotten John Collins. We never seem to get around to calling on this drink, once made with Holland gin but now mixed with bourbon.

We've heard that the Tom Collins was named after its creator, who in turn named the John Collins after his brother. We can't argue with the common-sense appeal of this notion, though we're not quite sold on it. As far as the Tom Collins goes, we suspect the name has more to do with the original sweet gin used, known as Old Tom gin. Collins? Well, maybe that was the bartender's surname.

Nearly all bars pour English dry gin as a base for both the Tom and the John Collins (this accounts for the widespread confusion over the difference between the two siblings, as David A. Embury points out in The Art of Mixing Drinks of 1958). The original John Collins was made with the overly flavorful Holland gin. However, since Holland gin is often hard to come by, English dry gin is a common substitute. Unfortunately, this gives rise to a drink with two names.

To complicate matters, the John Collins - as we previously mentioned - is now most commonly made with whiskey, though you'll still come across bartenders who insist a Tom Collins and a John Collins are identical twins. That's why we always say the drink's name and call out the ingredients - just to make certain that we and the bartender are friends with the same Tom.

By the '50s, the Collins boys had - as some others would say - married down, shedding much of the drink's original post-war seriousness and mixing with the likes of vodka. Soon the family expanded to include numerous cousins, like Pedro, Sandy, Mike, Brandy, and Jack, with the Singapore Sling not far behind.

The Tom Collins even has a glass named in its honor: the Collins, which holds 12, 14, or even 16 ounces. If we're served a Collins in anything but its namesake glass, we send it back - certain that any other vessel won't suit the effervescence of this drink.

On those warm late nights when we're tempted to call an old friend or Mom and Pop for obvious advice and comforting, we order a Tom Collins, knowing it's far too late. As we sip a drink or two, we piece together the sensible thing to do.

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