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Gin Rickey

Name: Gin Rickey
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Gin; 15 ml Lime juice; 10 ml Sugar syrup 'rich' (2:1); 15 ml Soda water

Difford’s Guide

Discerning Drinkers (83)

Measurements in:

Serves:

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Ingredients
1 ¹⁄₂ fl oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₃ fl oz	Sugar syrup 'rich' (2 sugar to 1 water) 65.0°Brix
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Thomas Henry Soda Water

How to make

Glassware

Serve in a Fizz or Highball (8oz to 10oz)

Prepare

Select and pre-chill a FIZZ OR HIGHBALL (8OZ TO 10OZ) GLASS.
Prepare garnish of length of lime peel.

Method

SHAKE first 3 ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
TOP with soda.

Garnish

Garnish with long string or ribbon of lime peel.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Gin Rickey contains 134 calories

Alcohol content:

1 standard drinks
16.04% alc./vol. (32.08° proof)
14.6 grams of pure alcohol

History

Rickeys are a family of cocktails believed to have been created by bartender George A. Williamson in 1880 at Shoemaker's Bar in Washington DC and named after Colonel Joseph Kyle Rickey, a Democratic lobbyist who it is said Williamson witnessed squeeze lime into his whisky before topping his drink with soda. Coincidentally or not, Colonel Rickey purchased the bar in 1883 and became a major importer of limes into the US.

The Gin Rickey cocktail first appeared in print in Harry Johnson's 1900 Bartenders Manual, where he calls for "1 wine glass of Tom or Holland gin if required."

Gin Rickey
(Use a medium size glass.)
1 or 2 pieces of ice;
Squeeze the juice of 1 good-sized lime or 2 small ones;
1 wine glass of Tom or Holland gin if required;
Fill up the glass with club soda, carbonic or selters if required, and swerve with a spoon.
Harry Johnson, New & Improved Bartender's Manual, 1900

Many confuse the Rickey and the Collins. For the record, a Rickey is made with lime juice and a Collins with lemon juice. A Rickey is also usually served in a shorter glass than a Collins, but that difference is secondary.

Review

Clean, sharp and refreshing. Please don't serve this in a Collins glass, it should be "a short drink served long" in a 10oz Highball or Fizz glass.

Variations/similar cocktails

Bourbon Rickey, Rye Rickey, Vodka Rickey, Apricot Rickey

Hayman's London Dry Gin 750ml - makes 16.5 cocktails
$33.99 $2.06 per cocktail Hayman's London Dry Gin image

Monin Pure Cane Syrup (US) 750ml - makes 75 cocktails
$14.99 $0.20 per cocktail Monin Pure Cane Syrup (US) image

$2.26 per cocktail*

Makes a minimum of 16.5 cocktails.
Shipping and applicable tax calculated at checkout.

Orders are processed by a licensed Fulproof retailer. The buy now button is added simply for convenience.

Checkout

* May not include all ingredients. Price per cocktail is an estimate based on cost of one cocktail with ingredients shown above and does not include shipping.

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Comments & Discussion

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Ian Johnson 1y

Colonel Rickey classically ordered his drinks "sans sugar".

John Bridge 4y

Great drink but is the soda water quantity right? Understand point about short drink served long but seems a very small amount.

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 4y

Yes, just a splash. It is the photo above that's wrong - the glass illustrated is a large collins glass but should be in a much smaller capacity highball glass. I will fix!

SamG 5y

The author specifies that this must not be served in a tall glass- why is that?

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 5y

It's not the shape as much as the size of the glass that's important. Like a Highball, this is "a short drink served long" and your glass should have a max capacity of 10oz / 300ml - certainly for the recipe above.

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