Mamie Taylor Highball

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (49 ratings)

Serve in a Highball (max 10oz/300ml)

Ingredients:
1 12 oz Blended Scotch whisky
3 oz Thomas Henry Ginger Ale
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Highball (max 10oz/300ml) glass.
  2. Prepare lemon slice wheel for garnish.
  3. POUR all ingredients into ice-filled glass.
  4. Garnish with lemon slice.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 5/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 5/10

Review:

Faintly smoky malty Scotch and subtly sweet ginger are flavours that are simply made for each other. Simple but delicious.

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Variant:

Served in a Collins glass with a generous squeeze of lime and garnished with lime rather than lemon.

History:

Bartenders apparently became so sick of making Mamie Taylors in the 1900s that they hiked up the price of the cocktail to discourage customers from ordering it.

Mamie Taylor was invented in 1899 in Rochester, New York, and it spread like wildfire. The name is a bit of a mystery, but there are several versions of a tale linking this cocktail to the Broadway star of the same name.

Thirty years after its creation, the Mamie Taylor appears in Albert Stevens Crockett's 1935 The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book with the juice of half a lime served in a Collins glass. Sadly, the cocktail never managed to recover from Prohibition and has since faded from the limelight.

MAMIE TAYLOR
Juice on-half Lime (Colins glass)
One jigger Scotch Whiskey
One bottle imported Ginger Ale

A. S. Crockett, 1934 Old-Waldorf-Astoria-Bar-Book/

Highball cocktails history and perfect serve

Nutrition:

One serving of Mamie Taylor Highball contains 133 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.2 standard drinks
  • 12.12% alc./vol. (12.12° proof)
  • 16.4 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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Peter McCarthy’s Avatar Peter McCarthy
17th May 2024 at 19:45
This seems like it might be perfect for a mild autumn afternoon...
Peter McCarthy’s Avatar Peter McCarthy
17th May 2024 at 19:41
The original recipe calls for "One bottle imported Ginger Ale". I'm curious if they used to come in bottles of about 90 ml / 3 oz, or if they were just originally using a lot more Ginger Ale. (A quick Google seems to suggest that 7 oz was the smallest.)
Hunter Newsome’s Avatar Hunter Newsome
27th September 2023 at 19:08
The coalescence of flavors works so well in this drink. A great introduction to scotch, and a lot more approachable than the equally good scotch highball.
Chris Haley’s Avatar Chris Haley
14th February 2022 at 02:35
I’ve loved this cocktail ever since I found it in Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. To me, the lime essential. Trying to revive it by converting the many Moscow Mule drinkers out there…it is SO much more interesting!
Peter McCarthy’s Avatar Peter McCarthy
17th May 2024 at 19:44
I definitely need to try it again with the lime...