Tom Collins minus the gin botanicals.
Why you are pouring this tonight
The Vodka Collins is what you order when you want a Tom Collins but the gin in your house is the kind your father-in-law brought as a gift in 2019 and you’ve been hiding behind the cookbooks. It’s the cleanest highball in the cabinet. Vodka, lemon, sugar, soda, ice in a tall glass, lemon wheel on the lip. The drink your nan would have ordered in a hotel bar in 1972 and called “a long lemon.”
Use a vodka with a personality you actually want represented (Belvedere if you’re feeling fancy, Archie Rose if you want to drink something Australian and proud, Ketel One for the everyday). Dissolve the sugar in the lemon juice first. Soda goes in last, ice-cold, straight out of the fridge. The drink lives or dies on the temperature of the soda.
What to pour it alongside
Oysters, smoked salmon, salads with citrus dressing.
Notes
The simplest Collins. Use a clean grain vodka, the drink is what the vodka is.
The recipe
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