A highball glass filled with a cocktail, garnished with a red cherry and set against an orange background

Tom collins cocktail

Name: Tom collins cocktail
Total time: 5 min
Yield: Serves 1
Ingredients: 50ml London dry or old tom gin; 25ml lemon juice; 12.5ml sugar syrup; sparkling water; lemon or orange wheel and maraschino cherry to garnish

Hannah Guinness

Published: January 18, 2022 at 9:50 AM

Save recipe

Serves 1

Easy

Total time: 5 mins

A star rating of 5 out of 5.11 ratingsRate

loading...

Get 5 months for £5 when you subscribe today

This classic is essentially a sour cocktail lengthened with sparkling water. Winningly simple to mix, it makes for a deliciously refreshing aperitif

Skip to ingredients

Alternatives

Complete the dish

Try this Tom Collins recipe, then check out our Singapore sling, negroni, dirty martini, amaretto sour recipe, white russian cocktail and more gin cocktail recipes.

Our drinks expert, Hannah Guinness, shares her at-home bar tips to help you take your tom collins to the next level.

What is a tom collins?

At its simplest a tom collins is a sour made with a base spirit – classically old tom gin – lemon juice and sugar, and lengthened with sparkling water. It’s winningly easy to make and makes for a refreshing summer drink.

Tom collins ingredients

We’ve tried and tested the best gins, but feel free to experiment with other base spirits – vodka, cognac, calvados, blanco tequila, white rum and light blended whiskies would all work well.

Bar hacks and garnishes

Garnish with a lemon wheel and maraschino cherry. Use a chilled highball glass.

Take your skills to the next level with this handy cocktail kit from the olive shop. Completed with easy-to-use cobbler shaker, double jigger, fine mesh strainer and bar spoon, it has everything you need to make next-level drinks at home. Buy here.

Make it a non-alcoholic tom collins

Swap the gin for a non-alcoholic gin.

Ingredients

50ml London dry or old tom gin
25ml lemon juice
12.5ml sugar syrup
sparkling water
lemon or orange wheel and maraschino cherry

to garnish

Method

step 1

Fill a tall highball glass with ice, add all of the ingredients and gently stir. Garnish with a citrus wheel and maraschino cherry.

Mix up more gin cocktail recipes

Authors

Hannah GuinnessSenior sub editor and drinks writer

Comments, questions and tips

Rate this recipe

What is your star rating out of 5?1 star out of 52 stars out of 53 stars out of 54 stars out of 55 stars out of 5

Choose the type of message you'd like to post

CommentQuestionTip

Overall rating

A star rating of 5 out of 5.11 ratings

Want to see this content?

This page contains olivemagazine content provided by Google reCAPTCHA. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Google reCAPTCHA may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required purposes.

Accept and continue