Multicolored alcoholic drinks can be found in any cafe, restaurant or bar. Their preparation, as a rule, is not easy. But it is not at all necessary to learn the art of a bartender in order to make a Collins cocktail at home and delight friends and family with an unusual aperitif.
History of origin
The Collins cocktail owes its origin to the bartender of the London Limmers Hotel, John Collins, who in 1980 mixed gin with sugar syrup and soda, adding lemon juice to the resulting mixture. The drink instantly gained fame for its unusually bright taste, and soon it was singled out as a separate type of cocktail.
In the future, various interpretations of collins appeared. Fruit and sweet syrups, liqueurs, mineral water, soda water were added to the unchanged base - unsweetened alcoholic beverage, and also decorated with slices of berries and fruits or sprigs of fresh herbs. But the classic version, entrenched under the name "Tom Collins", remains unchanged.
How to cook
In terms of composition, some types of cocktails are confused with each other, but the differences can be seen if you look closely at the methods of preparing and decorating drinks. Collins, for example, are often mistaken for fizzes. The latter require more intense shaking and do not provide for the addition of decorations in the design.
To make a Collins cocktail, you will need a shaker, where crushed ice is previously poured. Further, all the ingredients are poured into the container, excluding soda and mineral water. After mixing all the ingredients, the bartender pours the drink into a special highball glass filled with crushed ice and dilutes the resulting mixture with mineral or soda water. The finished cocktail must be mixed with a spoon, garnished with halves of fresh berries or lemon zest and served with two straws.
Classic "Tom Collins"
You can safely take this recipe as a basis and experiment with the ingredients, choosing the ingredients to your liking.
To prepare a traditional collins, you will need:
- gin - 50 ml
- sugar syrup - 25 ml
- fresh lemon - 25 ml
- soda - 100 ml
- orange - 30 g
- ice cubes - 400 g
In a shaker filled with ice, mix gin, syrup and fresh juice. Shake slightly and pour the resulting liquid through a sieve into a glass. Pour soda on top and stir gently. Garnish with orange slices before serving.
Green terrace
The unusual and spicy taste of this collins will help to impress even the most discerning audience. To prepare it you will need:
- cognac - 50 ml
- sugar syrup - 10 ml
- soda - 100 ml
- lime - 40 g
- green grapes - 30 g
- red basil - 8 g
- ice crumbs - 200 g
Put the pre-washed berries, lime and basil leaves into a glass. Suppress the ingredients, but not too much so that everything does not turn into a mess. Next, ice, syrup and cognac are added to the glass. From above, all this is poured with soda and mixed. When serving, the glass can be garnished with half a grape or basil leaves.
Rum Collins
This cocktail is also called Pedro Collins. It will require:
- rum (light) - 35 ml
- lemon juice - 15 ml
- sugar syrup - 1 tsp
- soda - 100 ml
- cherry - 2 pcs.
Rum, juice and syrup are poured into a shaker with ice, shaken, poured into a glass 2/3 filled with ice. Dilute with soda on top and decorate the walls of the glass with cherries
