The 3 Confusing Cocktails

“They have confused Bartenders and People for years” (wrote in 2004)

The Sour, The Fizz, The Collins

I would like to say I reckon these drinks are exaggerated far too much, they are great drinks, but are nearly all the same. So there's absolutely no ned to worry, it's all a big mess over nothing.
The lemon juice and sugar might change from bartender to bartender or Home recipe, but the only real difference is the Soda water measurements, the Sour is famous for Whiskey (could be Gin if you want), The Fizz and The Collins are famous for Gin, but they are great drinks with lots of variations and you can even try Liqueurs or even flavoured Vodkas instead of Gin.

The Sour

This drink is a simple version of an old drink called a fix, but the Sour still appears on menus today where the Fix is non existent. A Fix was basically the same, but with a garnish of fruit in season probably meaning raspberries or blackberries so adding a little fruity flavour. The Sour is simple to make in my mind and some professional bartenders say the Sour is a benchmark for bartenders and maybe it is. I bet they would also say when making a Sour style drink always put the sour ingredient in carefully first as you can add later, but you can’t take it out so probably all the recipes in this section can benchmark a bartender to be professional or not. If i'm making a sweet Sour I will choose to use 1 ½ oz of base liqueur (Midori, Amaretto, Crème de cassis, etc...) and an original spirit version i will use 2 oz of base spirit (whiskey, Rum, Vodka etc…) keeping the rest of the ingredients the same

Ingredients
2 oz Liquor or 1 ½ Liqueur.......Rocks Glass with ice
1 oz Fresh Lemon Juice............Shake & Strain all ingredients
¾ oz Sugar Syrup...................Garnish with Orange Slice/Cherry
(Optional) Splash of Soda Water

The Fizz

So we have the Fix which didn’t go far because of the OTT style with loads of garnish and was probably made in hotels for a long while, but in the regular bars they changed it to a Sour (no garnish). So the Sour became the first of the Sour styles then when Bottled Soda water came on the scene at an affordable price maybe then more and more bars then were serving the Fizz’s and Collins and the Fizz is just an extension of the Sour and then the Collins is another extension, 3 simple drinks eh! All extensions
Also the Fizz has to be in a glass in between a Collins and rocks, highball style of about 10 oz

Ingredients
2 oz Spirit of your choice........Highball glass with ice
1 oz Fresh Lemon Juice............Shake & Strain all ingredients except Soda water
¾ oz Sugar Syrup...................Garnish normally none, but a Lemon wedge is ok
1-2 oz Soda Water

The Collins

Onto the 3rd and last of the fix extensions. Probably the second most famous Gin cocktail to the Dry Martini and can lead to another debate about the way this is now ordered in some Bars / Restaurants in Asia, it has become one of those drinks that most people order with out knowing what’s in it.
A Tom Collins was originally with a Gin called Old Tom Gin, but the Collins drink was with regular Gin and was known at the time as a John Collins who was the registered creator with his mates in the place he worked. John Collins as he was known was either a Bartender or Waiter, well he worked in a Hotel Bar in London during the 1890’s and quite rightly it was created and named after some one. Then someone made it with another Gin called Old Tom Gin and he/she named it appropriately as a Tom Collins.
Now though, when anyone orders a Collins it is ordered as a Tom Collins and they just expect it to be with any Gin which I think is fine and not necessary for the Bartender to give the John and Tom Collins story and the Tom Collins cocktail is now being served this way. So if you order a John Collins or Tom Collins in most bars you will get the same Gin based cocktail, maybe! Because some Bars mainly in America will give you a Bourbon cocktail if you ask for a John Collins, what a mess eh! And the USA bartenders claim the Collins cocktail came from there side of the Atlantic, No chance its an English drink from London, so which one is true eh, are you with me or not! Also as they state that a Tom Collins is with Gin and a John Collins is with Bourbon it shows they have no idea about the collins. So there we have three great drinks.

Ingredients
2 oz Spirit of your choice............Collins glass with ice
1 oz Fresh Lemon Juice.................Build all ingredients
¾ oz Sugar Syrup.......................Garnish with lemon wedge squeeze/Lemon wheel
3-4 oz Soda Water

Hope you like my version of the history of those 3 drinks and thats how i would serve them if i get in to a bar again.

Thanks for reading and Keep Mixing