My New Friend Mr Collins

I was watching Mad Men tonight, and Don Draper has his 7 or 8 year old daughter make a guest a Tom Collins. Ah, for the early 1960s. I got to thinking that I didn't remember my calendar having a recipe for that yet this year. Since this is one drink I'd heard of before I started this cocktail tutorial, I figured it's one I should get familiar with.

Don (can I call you Don?) reminded his daughter to use gin in it. It shows how seldom I've ever drunk one (or how long it's been) that I said, or thought, Huh? (And a cherry, not muddled. Huh?) Sure enough, gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup, topped with club soda.

The first recipe I used called for 2 oz of gin (I used Bombay) and 1 1/2 oz each lemon juice and simple syrup. Good. Tastes like a spiked Sprite, though. It was awfully sweet, even without the cherry.

The second recipe called for only an ounce each of lemon juice and simple syrup. This time I used Tanqueray 10. With all its herbal underbrush, this drink didn't taste like a Sprite, and only an ounce of simple syrup didn't make it as sweet. Good drink; I like it better than gin and tonic, though it won't do me much good in the malaria zone.