Tom Collins

A drink known as a John Collins has existed since the 1860s at the very least and is believed to have originated with a headwaiter of that name who worked at Limmer's Old House in Conduit Street in Mayfair, which was a popular London hotel and coffee house around 1790–1817.[5][6]

A Tom Collins served at Rye in San Francisco, California

The following rhyme was written by Frank and Charles Sheridan about John Collins:

My name is John Collins, head waiter at Limmer's,
Corner of Conduit Street, Hanover Square,
My chief occupation is filling brimmers
For all the young gentlemen frequenters there.

Drinks historian David Wondrich has speculated that the original recipe that was introduced to New York in the 1850s would have been very similar to the gin punches that are known to have been served at fashionable London clubs such as the Garrick during the first half of the 19th century. He states that these would have been along the lines of "gin, lemon juice, chilled soda water, and maraschino liqueur".[5]

The specific call for Old Tom gin in the 1869 recipe is a likely cause for the subsequent name change to "Tom Collins" in Jerry Thomas's 1876 recipe. Earlier versions of the gin punch are likely to have used Hollands instead.[5]

Some confusion regarding the origin of the drink and the cause for its change of name has arisen in the past due to the following:

In 1874, people in New York, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere in the United States would start a conversation with "Have you seen Tom Collins?"[7][8] After the listener predictably reacts by explaining that they did not know a Tom Collins, the speaker would assert that Tom Collins was talking about the listener to others and that Tom Collins was "just around the corner", "in a [local] bar," or somewhere else near.[7] The conversation about the nonexistent Tom Collins was a proven hoax of exposure.[7] In The Great Tom Collins hoax of 1874, as it became known, the speaker would encourage the listener to act foolishly by reacting to patent nonsense that the hoaxer deliberately presents as reality.[7] In particular, the speaker desired the listener to become agitated at the idea of someone talking about them to others such that the listener would rush off to find the purportedly nearby Tom Collins.[7] Similar to the New York Zoo hoax of 1874, several newspapers propagated the very successful practical joke by printing stories containing false sightings of Tom Collins.[7] The 1874 hoax quickly gained such notoriety that several 1874 music hall songs memorialized the event (copies of which now are in the U.S. Library of Congress).[7][9]

The first published Tom Collins recipe appears to have been in Harry Johnson's 1882 book, New and Improved Bartender’s Manual or How to Mix Drinks of the Present Style. This book contains a recipe for two Collins drinks, the John Collins and the Tom Collins. The John Collins calls for Holland Gin, which is most likely what is also known as Genièvre, but the recipe for the Tom Collins in this book is as follows:

Tom Collins

(Use an extra large bar glass.) Three-quarters table-spoon of sugar; 3 or 4 dashes of lime or lemon juice; 3 or 4 pieces of broken ice; 1 wine glass full of Old Tom gin; 1 bottle of plain soda water; mix up well with a spoon, remove the ice, and serve.

Attention must be paid not to let the foam of the soda water spread over the glass.

In the 1884 book, The Modern Bartender’s Guide by O. H. Byron there is a drink called a "John Collins' Gin" where he calls simply for gin with no specifications of which gin, lemon juice, sugar, and filled with soda. That book also has a "Tom Collins' Brandy", which consists of brandy, lemon juice, gum syrup and Maraschino liqueur, and filled with soda water built in the glass over ice. This book also lists a recipe for a, "Tom Collins Gin and Whiskey", with the only instructions of, "Are concocted in the same manner as a Brandy receipt, substituting their respective liquors".

In another 1884 book, Scientific Barkeeping by E.N. Cook & Co, you can also find a John Collins and a Tom Collins, with the John Collins calling for Holland Gin and the Tom Collins calling for Whiskey.

"The father of American mixology", Jerry Thomas

There is a recipe for the Tom Collins in the 1887 posthumous edition of Jerry Thomas' Bar-Tender's Guide.[7][10] Since New York based Thomas would have known about the widespread hoax and the contents of his 1876 published book were developed during or right after The Great Tom Collins hoax of 1874, it was believed by George Sinclair that the hoax event was the most plausible source of the name for the Tom Collins cocktail.[7][10] Classified under the heading "Collins" with similarly named whisky and brandy drinks,[11] Jerry Thomas' Tom Collins Gin instructed:

Tom Collins (1887)

(Use large bar-glass.) Take 5 or 6 dashes of gum syrup. Juice of a small lemon. 1 large wine-glass of gin. 2 or 3 lumps of ice;

Shake up well and strain into a large bar-glass. Fill up the glass with plain soda water and drink while it is lively.[7]

This was distinguished from the Gin Fizz cocktail in that the 3 dashes of lemon juice in the Gin Fizz was "fizzed" with carbonated water to essentially form a "Gin and Sodawater" whereas the considerably more "juice of a small lemon" in the Tom Collins essentially formed a "Gin and Sparkling Lemonade" when sweetened with the gum syrup.[7] The type of gin used by Thomas was not specified in his 1887 book, but was most likely Old Tom if that was responsible for the change in the drink's name.[12] If, alternatively, the change in name was caused by the popularity of the Tom Collins Hoax of 1874 then it is more probable that Holland gin rather than English London Dry Gin was intended since Jerry Thomas' Gin Fizz (1887) called for Holland gin and Hollands Gin (Jenever) was imported into the United States at that time at a ratio of approximately 6 liters to every liter of English Old Tom Gin.[7]

By 1878, the Tom Collins was being served in the bar rooms of New York City and elsewhere.[13] Identified as among 'the favorite drinks which are in demand everywhere' in an advertisement for the 1878 edition of The Modern Bartender's Guide by O. H. Byron, both Tom Collins gin and whiskey and Tom Collins brandy were considered fancy drinks.[13] In the 1891 book, The Flowing Bowl: When and what to Drink, author William Schmidt listed the Tom Collins as including:

Tom Collins Gin (1891)
The juice of half a lemon in a large glass,
a bar-spoonful of sugar,
a drink of Tom gin; mix this well;
2 lumps of ice,
a bottle of plain soda.
Mix well and serve.[14]

One turn of the 20th century recipe subsequently replaced the lemon juice with lime juice.[15]

An alternative history places the origin in St. Louis.[16]