Bourbon, built
Whiskey Highball
Barline 2,t,Hl
The code is the shorthand off my printed menu; the Key tab decodes every letter.
- 2 oz Bourbon
- top with Soda water
Build in the glass over ice, then lift once with a barspoon.
Highball, iced, lemon twist.
Taste
Two ounces of bourbon and soda over ice, with a lemon twist. Water and gas open the whiskey out, so corn and barrel come forward and the vanilla rides up on the bubbles. The twist puts oil on the surface, so the first sip is citrus over sweet grain.
History
The word turns up in the 1890s. A character asks for a high ball of whiskey in Ha Du Souchet's 1894 play My Friend From India, and Chris Lawlor's 1895 The Mixicologist prints High Ball as ice, seltzer, and brandy or whiskey; Harry Johnson's 1900 Bartenders Manual settles it as one word. Gary Regan offered a different etymology in The Joy of Mixology (2003): a highball was a railroad signal, the ball on a float in a steam engine's water tank showing there was water enough to go. This menu pours two ounces of bourbon over ice, tops with soda, and twists lemon over it.
Same shape, other bottles
The Highball family, with the bottle that changed.
- Gin & Tonicgin and tonic water for bourbon and soda water
- Scotch and Sodascotch for bourbon
- Vodka & Tonicvodka and tonic water for bourbon and soda water
- Vodka Sodavodka for bourbon
- Dark and Stormyaged rum and ginger beer for bourbon and soda water
- Gin Rickeygin for bourbon
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.