The Vodka Collins does not have its own origin story, and that is appropriate. It is a variation on the Tom Collins, adapted for the American vodka drinkers who emerged in the decades after the Second World War. If the Tom Collins is the original summer highball, the Vodka Collins is its cleaner, quieter cousin.
Understanding the Vodka Collins requires understanding where vodka sits in American drinking, which is a specific and relatively recent story.
Vodka’s arrival in America
The history of vodka in the United States begins in 1933. For decades, vodka had been the default spirit in Russia, Poland, and much of Eastern Europe, but the American market had been dominated by whiskey, rum, gin, and brandy. Vodka was essentially unknown outside immigrant enclaves.
In 1933, after the end of Prohibition, a Russian émigré named Rudolph Kunett acquired the American rights to a Russian vodka brand that had been producing since the 1860s. Kunett spent the rest of the 1930s trying to sell Americans on vodka, with limited success. In 1939, he sold the rights to a larger American beverage company, and through the 1940s their marketing positioned vodka as a spirit for mixed drinks, emphasizing its neutral character under a tagline that leaned on the “no taste, no smell” idea.
Vodka took off after the Second World War. By the mid-1950s, it was a meaningful category in American drinking, and by the 1970s it had passed gin in total sales and would eventually pass whiskey as the most-sold spirit category in the United States.
The Vodka Collins emerged as a natural consequence. Bartenders who had been making Tom Collinses for a century swapped vodka for gin when vodka drinkers started asking for tall, refreshing, summer drinks. The resulting cocktail is lighter and cleaner than the gin original, without the juniper and botanical weight that gives the Tom Collins its character.
The difference between the two
A Tom Collins and a Vodka Collins are the same drink except for the base spirit, but the difference between the two is instructive. A good gin carries a significant amount of flavor: juniper, citrus, floral notes, spice. When a Tom Collins is diluted with soda and lemon, the gin’s complexity has to push through. A good Tom Collins tastes like gin flavored with lemon; a bad one tastes like lemon with gin somewhere behind it.
A good vodka, by contrast, is intentionally less assertive. The Vodka Collins tastes like clean, cold lemon soda with weight and structure. The vodka contributes body, mouthfeel, and the slight sweetness that a neutral spirit brings, without adding its own flavor. This makes the Vodka Collins a different kind of drink: less complex than the Tom Collins, but also more versatile with food and in warm weather.
The choice between the two is a matter of what you want from the drink. The Tom Collins is a drink about gin. The Vodka Collins is a drink about lemon.
What the drink actually is
The Vodka Collins is a highball, specifically of the “collins” subcategory. A collins is a shaken sour topped with soda water, served tall over ice. The Gin Fizz, Tom Collins, Vodka Collins, and Raspberry Collins are all in this family. The Mojito is a close relative, essentially a rum collins with mint.
The structure is a spirit, a citrus (usually lemon, sometimes lime), a sweetener (simple syrup), and soda water to top. The drink should be tall, cold, and still slightly carbonated through the last sip.
Making one well
The vodka has to be clean. A Vodka Collins with low-quality vodka is unpleasant, because the drink has nothing to hide behind. Silverton Vodka’s clean finish and creamy texture give the Vodka Collins weight without adding off-flavors. A properly made Vodka Collins with good vodka is bright, refreshing, and subtly complex.
The lemon has to be fresh. Bottled lemon juice ruins the drink. Fresh lemon is bright and holds up to the dilution from soda.
The simple syrup should be just enough to balance the lemon. If the lemons are tart, use a little more. If they are milder, use a little less. The goal is a drink that finishes clean, not sweet or sour.
The soda water should be well-carbonated. Freshly opened bottle or can, poured at the end. Flat soda kills the drink.
Build technique: shake the vodka, lemon, and simple syrup briefly with ice to chill and mix. Strain into a Collins glass over fresh ice. Top with soda water. Stir gently, once, so as not to knock out the carbonation. Garnish with a lemon wheel and a cherry.
Variations worth knowing
The Strawberry Vodka Collins muddles fresh strawberries before shaking, pinking the drink and adding fruit depth. In Oregon summer, when strawberries are at peak, it is excellent.
The Cucumber Vodka Collins uses cucumber juice or muddled cucumber in place of some or all of the lemon. It is cleaner, more vegetal, and particularly good on hot days.
The Blood Orange Vodka Collins uses blood orange juice for half the lemon. The drink turns red-orange and has more fruit presence.
The Elderflower Vodka Collins adds a quarter ounce of elderflower liqueur. It makes the drink more floral and slightly sweeter.
The recipe
2 oz Silverton Vodka 1 oz fresh lemon juice ½ oz simple syrup Soda water, to top
Shake the vodka, lemon juice, and simple syrup briefly with ice. Strain into a Collins glass over fresh ice. Top with soda water. Stir gently. Garnish with a lemon wheel and a cherry.
The drink for the right moment
The Vodka Collins is not the most famous cocktail on any menu. It does not have the historical weight of the Tom Collins or the cultural moment of the Cosmopolitan. What it has is a specific usefulness: on a hot afternoon, with food, after a long day, when you want something refreshing that will not compete with a meal or a conversation. The Vodka Collins is the drink equivalent of a good white shirt. Ordinary in the best way.
It is also the drink you order when you want the afternoon to stay an afternoon. Whether it does is up to you.
A cousin on the East Coast served me one of these on a July afternoon with fresh lemon and the right amount of soda, and it was the best version I had had. Simple drinks are easy to get wrong. She had not gotten this one wrong.
Sources
- David Wondrich, Imbibe! (Perigee, 2007), on vodka’s introduction to the American market and the post-Prohibition cocktail landscape.
- Dale DeGroff, The Craft of the Cocktail (Clarkson Potter, 2002), on highball and collins technique.
- Gary Regan, The Joy of Mixology (Clarkson Potter, 2003), for the highball family.
- Post-Prohibition American beverage industry archives and vodka marketing history, on the rise of vodka in the US.
- Difford’s Guide entry on the Vodka Collins.
About the author
Adam Messick is the founder of Abiqua Spirit Distillery in Silverton, Oregon, with ten years in the craft spirits industry. With help from family and friends, he handles the day-to-day work of blending, bottling, and labeling every release of Silverton Vodka, Gallon House Gin, and Üla Orange Liqueur. Silverton Vodka received the American Distilling Institute’s Gold Medal in 2019. Silverton Vodka, Gallon House Gin, and Üla Orange Liqueur have each won Silver at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Abiqua Spirit Distillery is a small-batch spirits company producing finely crafted potato vodka, gin, and orange liqueur from Silverton, Oregon. Contact: info@abiquaspiritdistillery.com or (503) 837-9869.