Gin Rickey

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (67 ratings)

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

Ingredients:
1 12 oz Hayman's London Dry Gin
12 oz Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
13 oz Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)
12 oz Thomas Henry Soda Water
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Fizz or Highball (8oz to 10oz) glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of length of lime peel .
  3. SHAKE first 3 ingredients with ice.
  4. STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
  5. TOP with soda.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 6/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 6/10

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.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Bourbon Rickey, Rye Rickey, Vodka Rickey, Apricot Rickey

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.

Nutrition:

One serving of Gin Rickey contains 134 calories

Alcohol content:

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

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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10th November 2024 at 18:52
Colonel Rickey classically ordered his drinks "sans sugar".
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Anonymous

3rd January 2022 at 19:06
Great drink but is the soda water quantity right? Understand point about short drink served long but seems a very small amount.
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
4th January 2022 at 12:47
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!
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Anonymous

25th December 2020 at 18:28
The author specifies that this must not be served in a tall glass- why is that?
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
26th December 2020 at 10:32
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.