“Uh yeah, I’ll have a Tom Collins.” -Charmingly-schnozzed American actor Owen Wilson as Dignan in Wes Anderson‘s 1996 breakout film, Bottle Rocket

There’s been a funny step-ladder in my cocktail-swillin’ history.  (Ok, well, the “swillin’” part is only a few years old maybe…..but I sure got good at it fast!)  I was never really much of a drinker when all the kids around me in my teenage years stared to experiment with 40-oz. bottles of malt liquour.  (Um, Schlitz if I remember correctly, my shoulder-tapping partners in crime…..)  Drinks really came at me gradually, if you must know the truth, starting from the super-sweet ultra-girly stuff (I can remember a particularly vicious teenage night of “blue drink” and crap vodka, and to this day I cannot eat or drink anything with that fake electric blue color because I puked so much.  Never went quite that sweet again with alcohol…..), and gradually working my way up until my super-sophisticated “palette of now.”  The progression was something like “Amaretto Sour” (almond-flavored liqueur and sour mix), to “Cape Codder,” to “Greyhound” (vodka and grapefruit juice), to “Vodka Tonic,” to “Vodka Soda.”  Subtle, yet progressively larger degrees away from sweet and toward, well, alcohol.  (*Sniffle* The liver grows up so fast, don’t it?)

What I have yet to develop is a palette for the so-called “dark liquors”:  whiskeys, bourbons, scotchs, etc.  I was warned at culinary school that I’d naturally just develop a palette for these things as I got deeper and deeper into the culinary world, but the truth is…..I didn’t.  I can certainly respect a lady that can down shots of whiskey with the boys, but for me that stuff is just too strong.  Dark alcohols have such dominant flavor, and I find that in most cases those flavors just over-power the whole drink.  Maybe that’s the point for some, and maybe that’s why boys like the dark stuff so much.  Cute boys have a “musk” all their own, and coincidentally, so does whiskey.

Anyway, I digress.  The point here is that I’m classically a vodka freak that’s slowly becoming very interested in the gin world.  I believe that I loved vodka first because there’s not much of a flavor to it.  Vodka is very neutral, and has a wide spectrum of flavor affinity.  Vodka allows the other ingredients in the drink to shine brightly while it takes a bit of a back seat.  Gin is sort of, in my mind, the next step forward from vodka in terms of “flavor assertiveness.”  You really know you’re drinking gin when you drink gin, but it’s not so “in your face” that it won’t play well with others in the cocktail shaker.  There are even really lovely flavor nuances among the various brands of gin available, and my palette is currently undergoing a rigorous training program in this field.  (Summer is fun, isn’t it?)

I’ve been working my way through the cocktail lists of some of my favorite Brooklyn restaurants for inspiration, and the good ol’ Tom Collins stood out like a sore, gin-soaked thumb on the menu from my beloved Walter Foods in Williamsburg.  What’s so great about this cocktail is that it really bridges the gap between childhood and adulthood.  It’s grown-up lemonade.  With a cherry on top.  Plus, it’s all fizzy and sparkly and cute.  Even if you’re a boy and would rather be drinking whiskey.

Ingredients:

2 oz. gin (NOTE:  I used Seagram‘s for this drink.  Tasted great, dudes.)

2 oz. freshly-squeezed lemon juice

1 oz. simple syrup

Dash bitters (NOTE:  I used Angostura.)

Club Soda

Lemon & Maraschino Cherry, for garnish

Instructions:

1.  Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.  Measure out the gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a cocktail jigger and pour into the shaker.  Add the dash of bitters.  Fasten the lid on the shaker, and shake vigorously to mix, about 15-20 seconds.  Pour into a highball glass filled with ice, top off with club soda, and garnish with fresh lemon slice and a maraschino cherry.  Serve immediately.

Yield: 1 tall glass of big girl lemonade