Scotch, built
Scotch and Soda
Barline 2,t,H
The code is the shorthand off my printed menu; the Key tab decodes every letter.
- 2 oz Scotch
- top with Soda water
Build in the glass over ice, then lift once with a barspoon.
Highball, iced.
Taste
Two ounces of Scotch and soda to the top of an iced glass. Whisky, water, and gas, so what you taste is the bottle you bought, pulled open: smoke and cereal where the neat pour was tight. Long and cold, and it stays that way.
History
Patrick Gavin Duffy claimed in his 1934 The Official Mixer's Guide that he brought the highball to America in 1895, at his cafe by the Lyceum Theatre in New York, after an English actor asked for Scotch and soda and he laid in a stock of Usher's. He said the Broadway Scotch craze followed. The New York Times printed his letter making the claim in 1927 without checking it, and Difford's still files it as a claim. This menu pours two ounces of Scotch over ice and tops with soda, no garnish.
Same shape, other bottles
The Highball family, with the bottle that changed.
- Gin & Tonicgin and tonic water for scotch and soda water
- Vodka & Tonicvodka and tonic water for scotch and soda water
- Vodka Sodavodka for scotch
- Whiskey Highballbourbon for scotch
- Dark and Stormyaged rum and ginger beer for scotch and soda water
- Gin Rickeygin for scotch
This is one drink on my home bar's menu. Tick the bottles you own and the menu lists which of all 185 drinks they pour.