THE CLASSIC RECIPE
We’ll never know who was first to mix scotch with sparkling water, but it seems fairly clear that this cocktail originated around the turn of the twentieth century, as did its name. The name may be a reference to the bygone days of steam-powered trains: When a steam locomotive gets up to speed, the full pressure pushes a ball to the top of a gauge—thus the train is “highballing.” Or perhaps it’s a reference to the train signals of the day, wherein a raised globe meant the track ahead was clear and a train could speed through quickly, which could be a metaphor for slugging down a scotch and soda. Less colorfully, the name may, in fact, just be derived from a common nineteenth-century term for a glass (a ball), indicating that this drink was a tall, or high, glass of scotch. Whatever the case may be, the tall glass that this drink is served in has become inseparable from the drink itself.
Whisky Highball
2 ounces scotch
6 ounces cold seltzer
Garnish: 1 lemon wedge
Pour the scotch into a Highball glass, then add 3 ice cubes. Stir for 3 seconds. Add the seltzer and stir once. Garnish with the lemon wedge.
OUR ROOT RECIPE
To construct our ideal Highball, we start by choosing the base spirit—a selection that’s highly personal. Some people prefer a high-powered smoky Islay scotch, while others favor the fruity cereal grain flavor of a blended Irish whiskey. Because a classic Highball has no ingredients beyond whiskey and sparkling water, we lean toward a spirit that doesn’t overpower the light tingle of sparkling water: Hakushu, a 12-year Japanese whisky that’s soft and elegant and has only a whisper of smokiness. Then, although most bars garnish Whisky Highballs with a lemon wedge, we think that’s unnecessary at best, so we deliberately omit it, allowing our root Highball recipe to stand as a testament to the drink’s nuance, keeping the harmony of great whisky and tingly bubbly water intact.
Of course, the harmony of this ideal Highball largely stems from the delicacy of the Japanese whisky it calls for. If you lean toward stronger-flavored whiskies, such as Islay single-malt or American rye or bourbon, you may want to adjust the proportion of whiskey to sparkling water. Personally, we prefer 5 ounces of chilled seltzer to 2 ounces of whisky in Highballs with more assertive whiskies. Another solution is to keep a glass of chilled seltzer at hand to top off the drink as needed.
Our Ideal Whisky Highball
2 ounces Hakushu 12-year Japanese whisky
4 ounces cold seltzer
Pour the whisky into a Highball glass and add 1 ice cube. Let sit for 3 seconds. Add the seltzer and stir once. No garnish.
DEVIL IN THE DETAILS
On paper, the Whisky Highball is just whisky and carbonated water, similar to other familiar two-ingredient rail drinks—vodka and soda, gin and tonic, rum and Coke…These are the simplest drinks served at many bars, and while that may lead you to dismiss them as being less sophisticated than an ice-cold Martini or an expertly shaken Sidecar, we see mastering the Whisky Highball as a key accomplishment for any bartender. Executing a great one speaks volumes about the knowledge, preparation, and technique of its maker. If that seems far-fetched, bear with us. We’ll discuss this in depth later in the chapter (see “Exploring Technique: Building Whisky Highballs,” on this page).
Cocktail nerds love to whisper tales of tiny bars in Tokyo’s Ginza district where the modest Highball reaches its apotheosis. There, the few spare elements of the cocktail are carefully considered, both in isolation and in how they will collaborate with each other. These elements include the character of the whisky; the size, shape, and clarity of the ice; the temperature, effervescence, and mineral content of the water; the heft of the glass and the thickness of its rim; and the meticulous method by which the drink is assembled and placed in front of the guest. In short, the ritual of Japanese Highball service is pure craftsmanship with a dash of theatrical affectation wherein the process of making the drink is seemingly just as important as the guest’s enjoyment of that drink. We heartily endorse this approach and believe that making a great Highball requires mastering both ingredients and tools—and elevating and refining both wherever possible.
WHISKY HIGHBALL ORTHODOXY
The defining traits of the Whisky Highball and its extended family of cocktails:
A Highball is composed of a core spirit that also provides seasoning, and is balanced by a nonalcoholic mixer.
A Highball’s core can be split between any number of spirits, wines, or fortified wines.
A Highball can be effervescent or still.
UNDERSTANDING THE TEMPLATE
The success of any Highball depends on several factors. First, you must start with ingredients that work well together. On a basic level, this involves understanding fundamental flavor affinities, such as the magic that happens when gin and tonic meet in a glass. At a deeper, more nuanced level, it requires understanding the intrinsic qualities of the spirit and mixer, such as how the mineral content of a certain sparkling water will interact with the brininess of a particular scotch.
It also involves understanding that the Highball is a template that’s both very simple and extremely flexible. Broadly speaking, a Highball is simply the combination of a spirit and some sort of mixer. Its flexibility stems from the fact that any spirit can compose the core, and the possibilities for mixers are equally wide: seltzer or tonic water, ginger ale or ginger beer, various colas and other sodas are typical, and even juices. A Mimosa, for example, is a Highball made with Champagne and orange juice, and a Greyhound is a refreshing mixture of gin and grapefruit juice. One of our favorite hangover cures is a savory Highball: the Bloody Mary.
Then, the possibilities can be expanded exponentially by splitting the core spirit, the mixer, or both. For example, the Americano (this page) has a split core of Campari and sweet vermouth, topped with seltzer, and the Aperol Spritz (this page) is a Highball that uses Aperol as the core spirit and splits the mixer between seltzer and prosecco. To create more complex cocktails, the template can be expanded to include small amounts of other flavorings, as in the Harvey Wallbanger (vodka, orange juice, and a float of Galliano) or a Tequila Sunrise (tequila, orange juice, and grenadine).
Finally, making a great Highball is a learned craft that can only be mastered through repetition. We view the craft of bartending as the careful study of ingredients and a refinement of technique built upon experience. Craft also involves knowledge: learning more about spirits, ingredients, tools, and techniques in order to be better at making drinks.
Art is something different, although it’s built upon the shoulders of craft. Art is applying creativity to those studied skills. A musician must learn scales before writing a masterpiece; a sculptor must grasp form; a painter must know how to combine primary colors. And here, deep in chapter 5, is our true motivation for writing this book: by studying classic cocktails and explaining how we and others have interpreted those forms, we’re providing the foundational knowledge necessary for developing your own artful creations based upon studied skills and knowledge. With that in mind, we see the Highball as the opportunity for all the skills and knowledge previously accumulated in this book to be fully articulated.
As this chapter progresses, we’ll progress through those levels of variation, working toward cocktails that eventually start to stray quite a distance from the basic Highball template. This blurs the lines between what makes a Highball a Highball, and when it becomes another type of cocktail. And in fact, we don’t have to go that far before the clear lines between a Highball and a Collins become diffuse, especially considering that the mixer used in a Highball may have attributes reminiscent of elements of a traditional sour. We draw the line based on how much citrus juice is used: more than ³⁄₄ ounce and the drink is probably more closely affiliated with sours, such as the Daiquiri. In a Highball, citrus and other acidic components are used to accent the other flavors in the drink, not as a central component.
THE CORE AND SEASONING: WHISKY
The basis of a proper Highball is a high-quality spirit, since the cocktail doesn’t contain much else to hide behind, especially in the Highball’s simplest format: whisky and seltzer. Furthermore, because the seltzer has a fairly neutral flavor, the whisky also serves as the main seasoning.
At our bars, we make most of our whiskey-based cocktails with American whiskey. This isn’t because of we view American whiskey as superior, but because of the sheer number of classic cocktails based on bourbon or rye, along with the important fact that domestic whiskeys are usually more affordable than those from other countries (shipping booze around the world is expensive). But as we’ve learned more about international whiskies and discovered more bottles that are affordable to mix with, we’ve started incorporating more of them across our cocktail repertoire.
In this section, we’ll provide an overview of whiskies from Scotland, Ireland, Japan, and a few other countries and then recommend specific bottles. But first, here’s a brief overview of the category in general. Just as with American whiskey, these whiskies are all made from grains that are first cooked into a mash, then distilled and aged in oak barrels. The differences between them lie in which grains are used, how those grains are processed before and during fermentation, the distillation process, the types of barrels used for aging, the duration of aging, and whether the aged whisky is bottled direct from the cask or blended with other whiskies.
SCOTCH WHISKY
Of all the world’s spirits, none brings out the nerds like scotch does, and for good reason: the best bottles are treasures of human achievement, patiently aged for generations, and sometimes the product of distilleries that no longer exist. In a sense, the appeal of old scotch whisky lies in its ability to transport us to a bygone era. While this may sound overly nostalgic, the qualities that make scotch so unique truly are steeped in tradition, craftsmanship, and artistry—along with a good dose of clever marketing.
There are truly beautiful scotch whiskies that cost a small fortune, and those bottles deserve our adoration. But unless money is no object, you’ll want to use something a bit more affordable—both for sipping and for mixing in cocktails—which can make finding the right bottles challenging as there is a wide gap between good quality, affordable, and mixable scotches. Our suggested bottles following represent our favorite go-to brands for versatility and affordability.
Scotch whisky can be divided into two broad categories: single-malt and blended. The notion that a single-malt scotch is inherently better than a blend is inaccurate; they are simply different.
SINGLE-MALT SCOTCH
The only ingredients allowed in single-malt scotch are barley and water. Single-malts must be distilled twice in copper pot stills, after which the distillate is aged in oak casks for a minimum of three years. The spirit must be produced by only one distillery, though it can be a blend of distillates aged for different numbers of years. If the label has an age statement, such as 12-year, that represents the youngest whisky in the blend.
Scotch production is separated into several regions, with the Highlands, Lowlands, and Islands being the easiest way to group styles. The heart of scotch whisky making is the Highlands, and specifically the Speyside region. The vast majority of Scotland’s whisky is made in this region, with an impressive collection of famous distilleries lying in close proximity to one another: Balvenie, the Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, the Macallan, and many more. Speyside scotch is either light and floral (Glenlivet) or rich and fruity (Balvenie), the latter resulting from the use of sherry casks for aging.
Scotland’s Lowlands yield far less whisky than the Highlands, but there are some brands we use from time to time. They are often light-bodied and a bit sweeter, with very little peaty smoke. In cocktails, Lowland single-malts can act as a broad substrate on which to build flavor, but due to limited availability of our favorite bottling (Auchentoshan Three Wood), we rarely mix with them.
The most distinctive of all single-malts are the often-aggressive whiskies from Islay, an island off Scotland’s southwestern coast. Islay whiskies are intensely smoky, but also rich and full-boded. In cocktails, the smokiness of Islay single-malts can quickly overpower other flavors, so we often split it with a blended scotch, as in Smoke and Mirrors (this page). We sometimes keep Islay scotch in a dasher bottle for adding small pops of flavor to cocktails or in an atomizer to spray it atop a cocktail for a savory aroma, a trick we picked up from Sam Ross’s neoclassic cocktail the Penicillin (this page).
USING SINGLE-MALT SCOTCH WHISKY (AND OTHER EXPENSIVE BOOZE) IN COCKTAILS
For many whisky enthusiasts, a fine single-malt scotch should not be mixed with more than a few drops of water—even an ice cube is considered sacrilegious. Why? It’s thought that the whisky should not be adulterated too far beyond its finished state in the bottle. Obviously we don’t agree. When done right, cocktails show the ultimate respect for great spirits, emphasizing their qualities alongside other flavors in a composition that enhances the spirit—and this is how we approach mixing with fine spirits.
It’s true that most single-malt scotches are far too pricy for most bars to mix with (unless you’re willing to pay $50 per cocktail, in which case we have a great time-share opportunity to discuss). But at home we find that our favorite single-malts for sipping, especially those from Speyside and Orkney Island, make delicious cocktails. If you’re making cocktails at home and cost is a concern, here’s an approach that’s worked well for us: instead of using only a single-malt scotch in a cocktail, use it to accent another whisky. For the base, use a more affordable blended scotch, such as the Famous Grouse, then add a small amount of a single-malt for more depth of flavor. This strategy is particularly effective when working with intensely smoky Islay single-malts, which will quickly dominate a drink if used in larger amounts, all cost considerations aside.
Another strategy for mixing with single-malts is more romantic. Many of them are lovingly described in terms of the geography and climate of the location where they’re aged—the smell of the sea, the softness of the heather growing nearby, and so on. These lyrical descriptions can provide wonderful inspiration for cocktails. For example, to accent the smell of the sea, we might base the cocktail on salty manzanilla sherry, or to amplify the heather, we might include floral St-Germain elderflower liqueur.
RECOMMENDED BOTTLES
Auchentoshan Three Wood (Lowlands): The result of three distillations (rather than the two typical of single-malt scotch), Auchentoshan is aged in three different types of oak: first in former bourbon barrels for up to twelve years, then in oloroso sherry barrels for one year, and finally in Pedro Ximénez sherry barrels for one year. The result is a dynamic, multilayered scotch with flavors from each of the different barrels in an impressive balance.
Bowmore 12-Year (Islay): Of all the Islay single-malts, Bowmore has the most restrained presence of smoky peat. It doesn’t lack smoky flavors—far from it—but while other iconic Islays (Lagavulin, Ardbeg, and Laphroaig) have dense smoke aromas and flavors, this one is more nuanced, with an orangey citrus and vanilla flavor beneath the smoke.
The Glenlivet 12-Year (Highlands): Elegant and floral, with a touch of honey, the Glenlivet is one of those massively produced single-malt scotches that can be found around the world and is consistently delicious, if not terribly complex. However, that very lack of complexity makes Glenlivet a useful single-malt for mixing, since it won’t aggressively overpower other flavors.
Highland Park 12-Year (Orkney Islands): This may be our favorite go-to sipping single-malt, thanks to its elegance and affordable price. It hails from the Orkney Islands, and the sea’s influence lingers in the background, beneath its mildly smoky and slightly sweet flavor. Highland Park ages their whiskies primarily in former sherry barrels, which lends a soft apricot flavor to the whisky.
Laphroaig 10-Year (Islay): We love this Islay scotch not just because it’s intensely smoky and briny and because just a few drops of it can flavor a cocktail, but also because it has complex spice flavors of black pepper, cardamom, and vanilla. It also has a lingering herbal note that makes it a great companion for mint, as in the Smoke and Mirrors (this page) and Smokescreen (this page).
BLENDED SCOTCH
Although single-malt scotch gets much of the attention these days, it wasn’t long ago that blends dominated the Scottish whisky category. But as single-malt scotches have become increasingly more expensive, the tide is turning once again, and innovators like John Glaser, of Compass Box, are restoring honor to high-quality blends.
For cocktail purposes, blended scotch is both affordable enough for mixing and versatile, so we use it frequently in our drinks. We gravitate toward blends that are distinctive but not overpowering and look for an even balance between richness and the spice flavors conferred by aging. Most of our favorite blended scotches have an appley fruitiness and a smoked tobacco flavor that works especially well in citrusy drinks. They also work well in stirred cocktails, where the tobacco and smoky characteristics can shine through.
RECOMMENDED BOTTLES
Compass Box Asyla: Whereas most of the bottles described here are defined by richness, Asyla is all elegance. It has some of the characteristics that make blended scotch so useful in cocktails—a fruity core flavor topped with spice notes—but the flavors are gentler and more reminiscent of fresh apple than cooked. On its own, Asyla is light-bodied, but in cocktails it can shine through in sophisticated ways, especially in riffs on the Manhattan, such as the Bobby Burns (this page).
The Famous Grouse: This is our favorite blended scotch for cocktails. The blend’s single-malts are sourced from the Highland Park and Macallan distilleries, and after they’re combined, the blend is aged for six months in oak. It has a creamy richness that melds into the flavor of cooked apples and a touch of spice gives it personality, but not so much that it overpowers. It’s a truly versatile whisky for many cocktail applications and priced right for mixing.
Compass Box Oak Cross: This unique blend is comprised of three single-malts that are combined and aged for six months in both American and French casks. Its flavor is dense, with the sweetness of malty vanilla and baking spices. It’s strong enough to make itself known even in cocktails that also include the bold flavors of vermouth—notably bitter Manhattan-style drinks, such as the Affinity (this page).
IRISH WHISKEY
Thought to have been one of the first whiskeys, Irish whiskey has oscillated between prominence and near extinction for two centuries but is now experiencing a renaissance. Many heritage brands are finding their way into the export market, and this has expanded our concept of Irish whiskey beyond the handful of bottles we’ve known for years.
There are a few things that differentiate Irish whiskey from its Scottish cousin. The devil is in the details: Most Irish whiskey is distilled three times, not two, and when pot stills are utilized, they are typically much larger than those used in Scotland. And though there are Irish whiskeys that are the equivalent of a scotch single-malt—produced by a single distillery and made only from barley—Irish whiskey by far favors the art of blending many whiskeys with different grain compositions, barrel types and sizes, and distilling methods.
When using Irish whiskey in cocktails, we don’t focus on style or region, as we do for scotch. This is largely because region has less influence than larger, countrywide styles of whiskey. Though these may have once been emblematic of certain places in Ireland, today the Irish whiskey industry has largely been consolidated into a few distilleries, though more are opening every year as Irish whiskey regains popularity. Lighter blends, such as Paddy, Jameson, and Tullamore Dew, have a soft and sweet personality much like a young bourbon. These blends are tasty in citrusy cocktails, too, but they tend to fall a little flat when tasked with playing the starring role, as in Manhattans or Old-Fashioned-style cocktails.
Pure pot still Irish whiskey is something entirely different. It has enough depth and body to be versatile in many cocktail applications. We love combining them with other ingredients that pull out their qualities and emphasize them.
RECOMMENDED BOTTLES
Bushmills Original: This whiskey, aged for five years in used American oak, leans toward a lighter style than others made by Bushmills. Its clarity makes it great for mixing in citrusy cocktails. For use in Manhattans and Old-Fashioned-style cocktails, we recommend Bushmills’ other bottlings, such as Black Bush, which incorporates a high proportion of whiskey aged in oloroso sherry casks, or the various Bushmills single-malts, which develop progressively complex flavors depending on aging time.
Redbreast 12-Year: This whiskey epitomizes traditional pot still Irish whiskey. It’s rich and almost oily, a result of unmalted and malted barley mash being distilled in a copper pot still. It has an almost coconut-like quality and a slight anise flavor. Blended from distillates aged in both American oak and sherry casks, it has a beautiful balance between spice and the rich, raisin-like finish of sherry. That nuance may get lost in a sour-style drink (though won’t try to talk you out of it), but Redbreast shines when used as the base in spirituous cocktails, such as the Cut and Paste (this page), where it mingles with an aged apple brandy for a juicy riff on a Sazerac.
JAPANESE WHISKY
Gone are the days when Japanese whisky was an obscure player. Since it landed on US shores a couple of decades ago, skepticism about whisky from Japan has evolved into full-on fanaticism, and it now has the reputation of being some of the finest whisky in the world, thanks to a long string of awards and accolades. The relentless Japanese quest for perfection is represented in every drop of Japanese whisky that we’ve tasted, and we’re endlessly frustrated by its scarcity in the United States.
There are surprisingly few regulations governing the production of Japanese whisky; its industry is shaped much more by tradition. One example of this is the barrels used for aging. While many Japanese producers rely on the same barrels used elsewhere, such as former bourbon, sherry, and port barrels, they also make heavy use of Japanese mizunara oak barrels, as well as plum wine casks. This has resulted in a wide spectrum of whiskies, from those that bear a striking resemblance to single-malt scotch to those that are quite like the blends produced in both Scotland and Ireland to distinctive types that are unique to Japan. This diversity is exciting to explore but makes it challenging to offer general guidelines about how to use Japanese whisky in cocktails, so we won’t go there. Instead, in the descriptions of the recommended bottles following, we’ll indicate what type of whisky a particular bottle most resembles—single-malt or blended scotch; Irish blend or pot still; or American—and address mixing from that perspective.
All of that said, you may be stymied by a far more practical consideration: most Japanese whiskies are available to the export market in only limited quantities, and the bottles we’re able to obtain are often quite expensive. Fortunately, there are a few bottles that usually won’t break the bank—if you can find them, that is. In our opinion, it’s worth your while to try.
RECOMMENDED BOTTLES
Hakushu 12-Year: Among our recommended bottles of Japanese whisky, Hakushu 12-year is the most similar to single-malt scotch, yet it’s far more than a Japanese rendition of Scotland’s whisky in Japan; it’s a beautiful example of how Japanese whisky making expresses a unique voice and distinctive style. The distillery is located 2,600 feet above sea level in a remote, forested location. The local water here is thought to have a great deal to do with Hakushu’s soft flavor, and this, coupled with a mild peatiness from the pot distillation and aging in both bourbon barrels and sherry barrels, results in a mildly fruity and floral whisky. We’re more than happy to mix finer, more expensive Japanese whiskies into our Highballs, but Hakushu’s elegance produces an ideal benchmark Highball by which we judge all others.
Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky: While many Japanese whiskies take direct inspiration from single-malt scotches, Nikka Coffey Grain whisky lies somewhere between Irish whiskey and bourbon. It’s made mostly from corn, producing the vanilla and spice flavors reminiscent of bourbon, then aged in various types of barrels, the products of which are then blended together to create a unique final flavor profile. In case you’re wondering, the word Coffey in the name doesn’t have anything to do with coffee; rather, it refers to the equipment used for distillation: a continuous still, also known as the Coffey still after its inventor, Aeneas Coffey.
Suntory Toki: A blend of whiskies from Suntory’s three distilleries (Yamazaki, Hakushu, and Chita), this is a smooth and light whisky that’s usually priced around $45, making it both affordable (for Japanese whisky) and a gentle introduction to whiskies from Japan. This bottle balances the refinement of a scotch-style single-malt with some of the grit and spice of grain whisky.
OTHER WORLD WHISKEYS
The global industry has been dominated by whiskeys from only a handful of countries (America, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and Japan), but there are great whiskeys made in many other countries. To date, aged quality whiskey is being produced in India, Taiwan, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, France, South Africa, Australia, Thailand, and New Zealand—and that’s just the countries we know of. More will undoubtedly emerge in the coming years.
If you choose to navigate these whiskeys, reflect back on everything we’ve outlined about whiskey above and in chapter 1. If the production method for a given whiskey is similar to that of a familiar style, this can provide an indication of what the whiskey might taste like, which will help you predict both its quality and its usability in cocktails. That said, studying a new offering also involves learning about where it comes from and what the climate is like there.
EXPERIMENTING WITH THE CORE AND SEASONING
When mixing with blended scotch alone, we often use a split core to bring in flavors that have an affinity for the whisky. One strategy is to use fortified wines, since many of the barrels used for aging scotch were previously filled with sherry, madeira, and port. American whiskey, especially bourbon, is a possible cohort for the same reason, though the aggressiveness of American oak may overpower a blended scotch. There are two primary ways to work with this. One is to use a split core consisting mostly of scotch (1½ ounces) with a small amount of bourbon (½ ounce) to give a drink a scotch-focused flavor with a bit of added spice. The other is to use inverse proportions—a bourbon-heavy core with a small portion of scotch—to create a cocktail with all the spice and personality of American whiskey but with a soft, earthy, apple-like undertone.
Of course, spirits other than whisky also work well in Highballs, in part because seltzer goes well with any spirit. Indeed, it’s fun to see how seltzer can change the flavor of the core as its bubbles enhance the aroma and provide an acidic note. For example, blanco tequila is earthy and vegetal on its own, but when it’s mixed into a Highball in place of whisky, it suddenly becomes citrusy. And although gin is famously paired with tonic water, substituting seltzer for the tonic makes for a delicious and sophisticated Highball, with seltzer allowing the botanical flavors to blossom. Because this too is a very simple way to experiment with the core, we’ll just leave it at that and encourage you to experiment on your own.
The natural next step in experimenting with the core is to substitute other types of booze for the strong spirits. The sky’s the limit here and we encourage you to follow your inclinations, but consider playing with ingredients that have distinctive flavors, such as fortified wines and bitter aperitifs. This is a traditional approach, as demonstrated by the classic Americano cocktail.
Americano
CLASSIC
A staple aperitif cocktail, the Americano is like a Negroni (a member of the Martini family, this page) in which the gin has been replaced with seltzer, transforming it into a Highball with a split base of Campari and sweet vermouth. Both ingredients are rich and bitter, even though they’re lower in alcohol, which allows this basic Highball format to work without any modifications. That said, the orange garnish is important for this cocktail: it perfumes the nose, and its flavors slowly seep into the drink as it’s consumed. We highly recommend having extra cold seltzer on hand to frequently top off an Americano, ideally in the late afternoon with a good book.
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce Carpano Antica Formula vermouth
4 ounces cold seltzer
Garnish: 1 orange half wheel and a small bottle of cold seltzer
Pour the Campari and vermouth into a Highball glass, then add 3 ice cubes. Stir for 3 seconds. Add the seltzer and stir once. Garnish with the orange half wheel and serve with a bottle of seltzer.
THE BALANCE: SPARKLING WATER
Whereas most cocktails are balanced via ingredients that provide sweetness, acidity, or both, the classic Whisky Highball is balanced solely by sparkling water. This requires greater attention to the qualities of the sparkling water and a judicious hand in pouring it. So let’s start by taking a closer look at this seemingly simple ingredient.
One role of sparkling water in a Highball is easy to grasp: it dilutes the spirit, stretching its powerful flavors and making it easier to drink. Yet this also transforms the flavor of the spirit. Flavors that had been tight and complex let their hair down and become easier to identify. A second role of the water is to add an impression of acidity. This doesn’t come across as acidic in the same way as lemon or lime juice; rather, it creates a pleasant sharp tingle on the tongue. Finally, sparkling water also enhances the spirit’s aroma, perfuming the space above the cocktail and lifting volatile fragrances to the drinker’s nose.
For these reasons, we pay particular attention to how carbonated our sparkling water is, since more bubbles will have a greater effect on the cocktail. We also ensure that our sparkling water is well chilled in order to preserve the bubbles (carbon dioxide comes out of solution more quickly in warm liquid). The many ways in which bubbly water is labeled and sold can be confusing, so we want to be clear about the differences between sparkling mineral water, soda water or club soda, and seltzer.
Sparkling mineral water: Some natural springs produce water with relatively high concentrations of minerals, which are dissolved into the water from rocks underground. Though some sparkling mineral waters are naturally effervescent, others are mineral water that’s been carbonated, so they can vary widely in terms of how bubbly they are. The types of minerals and their abundance, as well as the acidity, or pH, can also vary widely from source to source. Because of these natural variations, the category as a whole isn’t consistent enough for different products to be used interchangeably. However, the flavor of certain mineral waters—as subtle as they may be—can be a delicious match with whisky in a Highball.
Soda water: Also known as club soda, soda water is a product that mimics the flavors that occur naturally in mineral water by adding small quantities of various minerals to still water (typically sodium bicarbonate, sodium citrate, and potassium sulfate) and then carbonating the water, resulting in a subtle salty flavor. The flavor of these minerals is nearly imperceptible in straight soda water; try tasting soda water side by side with seltzer to see whether you can detect a difference. However, in a cocktail those minerals can act to brighten the flavor of citrus and curb bitterness, just as adding a bit of Salt Solution (this page) will. Because we want the most control in our cocktails, we don’t often use soda water and instead use seltzer water, adding salinity if needed.
Seltzer: This is simply filtered water that’s been carbonated. It has no additives, so it’s a very neutral and consistent product. For this reason, we generally prefer it in cocktails and highly recommend it for Highballs, since its clean flavor won’t appreciably alter the core spirit.
Finally, Highballs need not be bubbly; they can also be built with noncarbonated mixers, primarily juice. Old-style versions of such cocktails made with citrus juice, such as Screwdrivers and Salty Dogs, tend to have a bad reputation, and for good reason: the pasteurized and processed juices so often used to make them result in sad cocktails with a flat flavor. But when built with fresh ingredients, they can be delicious, if simple. At the extreme end of this spectrum lies one of the most unexpected Highballs of all: the Bloody Mary.
EXPERIMENTING WITH THE BALANCE
Because the mixer comprises such a large portion of the overall volume of a Highball and the choice of mixers is almost unlimited, changing out the mixer creates a vast canvas for exploration. This can be as straightforward as replacing seltzer with a different commercial mixer, such as tonic or cola, or as radical as using beer, sparkling wine, or even juice as the mixer, including vegetable juices to take the template in a savory direction, as in the Bloody Mary and its many variations.
Paloma
CLASSIC
Though the Margarita may get the world’s attention, Mexicans are far more likely to mix up a Paloma, which is simply grapefruit soda and tequila with a squeeze of lime. This cocktail can also be made with mezcal, and we highly recommend trying that variation. Our Paloma takes the traditional version and amplifies its flavors, first by making our own grapefruit soda from fresh grapefruit, and then adding a touch of grapefruit liqueur for even greater complexity.
Lime wedge
Kosher salt, for rimming
1¾ ounces blanco tequila
¼ ounce Giffard Crème de Pamplemousse
¼ ounce fresh lime juice
4 ounces cold Homemade Grapefruit Soda (this page)
Garnish: 1 grapefruit wedge
Rub the lime wedge along the upper ½ inch of a Highball glass, halfway around the circumference, then roll the wet portion in the salt. Pour in the tequila, Pamplemousse, and lime juices, then add 3 ice cubes. Stir for 3 seconds. Add the soda and stir once. Garnish with the grapefruit wedge.
Cuba Libre
CLASSIC
In the classic Cuba Libre, a humble Highball—rum and Coke—is elevated by adding a touch of lime juice. It’s an inspired choice, because lime peel is a key ingredient in most colas, so the juice draws that flavor out of the cola while also cutting through its sweetness. The core spirit is also crucial to making this cocktail work: rum’s sugarcane backbone complements the cola’s round spice flavors, and whisky’s spice can work wonderfully with cola’s bitter and citrus flavors, but the subtlety of vodka would fall flat, and gin’s botanicals would clash with the mixer.
2 ounces white rum
¼ ounce fresh lime juice
4 ounces cold Coca-Cola
Garnish: 1 lime wedge
Pour the rum into a Highball glass, then add 3 ice cubes. Stir for 3 seconds. Add the lime juice and cola and stir once. Garnish with the lime wedge.
Negroni Sbagliato
CLASSIC
Remember the Americano (this page) from the section “Experimenting with the Core and Seasoning”? What if we were to replace the seltzer with sparkling wine? The delicious result is a classic Negroni Sbagliato. Because the sparkling wine has more flavor than seltzer, less is used, resulting in a cocktail that dances between bitter, sweet, and refreshing.
1 ounce Carpano Antica Formula vermouth
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce cold prosecco
Garnish: 1 orange wedge
Pour the vermouth and Campari into a Highball glass and stir to combine. Fill the glass with ice cubes, then pour in the prosecco and quickly dip the barspoon into the glass to gently mix the wine with the cocktail. Garnish with the orange wedge.
Screwdriver
CLASSIC
As mentioned earlier, Screwdrivers (and similar Highballs that use citrus juice as the mixer) can be quite disappointing when made with processed commercial juices. However, these simple drinks can be redeemed by using freshly pressed juice from oranges that are in season. The juice itself is balanced, thanks to its bright acidity and sweetness, which makes for a refreshing cocktail. Even so, sometimes even fresh juice can fall a little flat. No problem! Just add a bit of Citric Acid Solution.
4 ounces fresh orange juice
Citric Acid Solution (this page), if needed
2 ounces vodka
Taste the juice before mixing. If the flavor seems a little flat, add a bit of Citric Acid Solution, a drop at a time, until the flavor is sweet with a tangy bite. Combine the orange juice and vodka in a Highball glass, then add 3 ice cubes. Stir for 3 seconds. No garnish.
EXPLORING TECHNIQUE: BUILDING WHISKY HIGHBALLS
Technique is important to all Highballs, but it’s crucial to Whisky Highballs, so in this section we’ll elaborate on our recommended technique for this simple but sophisticated drink. We build our Whisky Highballs with three things in mind: the proportion of whisky to seltzer; the temperature of the ingredients and glassware, and the style of ice. We also use a very specific mixing technique.
If we use too little seltzer, the whisky will taste diluted, and its bubbles will feel weak. If we use too much seltzer, the whisky’s flavor will be dumbed down. The proportion of two parts seltzer to one part whisky allows the ingredients to work together well, positioning the whisky as the star of the show, lifted up on the sharply effervescent backbone of the seltzer. It’s refreshing but also flavorful.
Our second key consideration is the temperature of the glassware and ingredients. We start by using glasses that have a smooth interior, as any etching provides a greater surface area for gases in the seltzer to attach to and come out of solution. In addition, we prefer to serve Whisky Highballs in chilled glasses and only use extremely cold seltzer for our Highballs. This isn’t just about serving a bracingly cold drink; it also helps maintain the seltzer’s bubbles throughout the life of the drink.
Our third and final consideration is the type of ice we use—a factor that also has a bearing on effervescence. This also has to do with surface area: many small pieces of ice have a much greater surface area than a few larger pieces; again, this allows more gases to come out of solution more quickly, resulting in a drink that rapidly becomes flat. While a single large chunk of ice with less surface area—say, a long spear of ice—would help keep the drink bubbly, it may not keep it very cold. We opt for the middle ground, choosing 1-inch ice cubes.
To build the drink, pull a chilled Highball glass out of the freezer and pour in the whisky. Carefully add 1 ice cube (preferably 1 inch or larger), taken directly from the freezer, slowly lowering it into the whisky with a barspoon so it doesn’t crack. Let the ice sit for about 10 seconds; if you stir immediately, the huge temperature difference between the whisky and the ice will probably make the ice cube crack. After the ice has tempered, slowly stir until condensation forms on the outside of the glass, typically about 10 seconds. Add another ice cube or two, so that the ice comes two-thirds of the way up the glass, then stir briefly. Pour in some of the chilled seltzer—just enough that the ice doesn’t float. Insert a barspoon into the glass, all the way to the bottom, and carefully lift the lowest piece of ice up about an inch, then lower it back to the bottom of the glass. This will gently mix the whisky and seltzer. Add a final piece of ice, then the remaining seltzer. Give it a final stir—one revolution only so as not to decrease the effervescence! Serve immediately.
GLASSWARE: THE HIGHBALL GLASS
The Whisky Highball and most of the cocktails in its extended family are all about the bubbles, so it’s especially important to use a glass that will help keep that effervescence alive as long as possible. In a short, wide glass, such as an Old-Fashioned glass or a coupe, a cocktail will have a larger surface area exposed to the open air, so the gases in the mixer will come out of solution more quickly than in a tall, narrow glass.
Our ideal Highball glass holds 12 ounces of liquid. We prefer those with a thick, weighted base and sides that become quite thin at the rim. The heavy base gives the cocktail solid footing on the table, and the delicacy of the rim is as much sensorial as it is practical (those thin rims can chip easily, but boy are they sexy). Some Highball glasses have etching on the outside, which is mostly ornamental but also gives the drinker a little extra grip. You probably won’t find it surprising that many of our favorite models hail from the Highball’s promised land, Japan. Our favorite Japanese brand available Stateside is Hard Strong, which makes a couple of styles of very durable Highball glasses with that combination of heft and delicacy that we love.
We should point out that Highball glasses and Collins glasses aren’t necessarily interchangeable, despite their similar shape. A proper Collins glass is larger, holding around 14 ounces of liquid. That difference in volume makes sense when you consider that a Highball is 2 ounces of booze plus a mixer, while a Collins is a full cocktail, shaken to dilution, then poured over ice and topped with bubbles. The larger Collins glass would be fine for serving Highballs, but if you try to fit a Collins-style drink in a Highball glass, you’ll have to either use less mixer or sacrifice some ice cubes in order to save space for the cocktail. The same goes for swizzles and coolers, which also benefit from a larger glass that can hold the requisite amount of ice.
WASTE NOT
In most bars, Highball-style drinks are served with a plastic straw, and until recently, we did this at our bars. We’ve been phasing them out because of their environmental impacts: plastic straws eventually end up in a landfill, and, of course, manufacturing them also has an environmental impact. In all honesty, most cocktails don’t really need straws. These days we do provide them if requested, but otherwise we only use them for drinks that genuinely, require straws—such as Juleps, swizzles, and other cocktails served over crushed ice, and we use metal straws, which can be washed and reused indefinitely.
HIGHBALL VARIATIONS
Because of the Highball’s simplicity, elements from the cocktails at the heart of each of the previous chapters can be used to generate balanced and tasty Highball variations. For example, the interplay between acidic lemon or lime juice balanced by sugar (the dynamic fundamental to Daiquiris) can be worked into a Highball in small quantities to boost flavor—but not so much that it becomes a sour! Similarly, the principles embodied by the Old-Fashioned and the Martini—using bitters to accent a spirit, or achieving harmony by marrying a spirit with fortified wine—can also be used in Highballs. Indeed, as you’ll see, some of the drinks in the remainder of this chapter look a lot like riffs on sours, Old-Fashioneds, or Martinis stretched out with a mixer.
Tequila Sunrise
CLASSIC
Like the Screwdriver (this page), the Tequila Sunrise is an oft-maligned classic cocktail that’s greatly improved by using fresh, rather than commercial, juice. We also find the classic version a bit cloying because of the sweetness of the grenadine, so we compensate by adding just a bit of lime juice, which pairs well with the tequila. The result is a refreshing, juicy cocktail, perfect for daytime drinking.
2 ounces blanco tequila
4 ounces fresh orange juice
¼ ounce fresh lime juice
¼ ounce House Grenadine (this page)
Garnish: 1 orange half wheel and 1 lime wedge
Combine the tequila, orange juice, and lime juice in a Highball glass, then add 3 ice cubes. Stir for 3 seconds. Add the grenadine and don’t stir so it will settle to the bottom of the glass. Garnish with the orange half wheel and lime wedge.
Gin and Tonic
CLASSIC
The gin and tonic is perhaps even more popular than the Whisky Highball, perhaps because of how its two simple ingredients interact with each other. Tonic water isn’t just a bitter seltzer; it also has a fair amount of sugar, giving it a sweetness that helps highlight the botanical flavors of high-proof English gin while curbing its alcohol heat.
2 ounces London dry gin
4 ounces cold tonic water
Garnish: 1 lime wedge
Pour the gin into a Highball glass, then add 3 ice cubes. Stir for 3 seconds. Add the tonic water and stir once. Garnish with the lime wedge.
Harvey Wallbanger
CLASSIC
Continuing our exploration of Highballs that have a bad reputation, consider the Harvey Wallbanger—basically a Screwdriver (this page) with a float of Galliano on top—where just a small amount of liqueur adds flavor and complexity to a simple Highball. For our version of this classic, we pull back on the vodka a bit to compensate for the alcohol in the Galliano and, as with our take on the Tequila Sunrise (see this page), we add a bit of citrus juice (in this case lemon) to compensate for the added sweetness. We also forgo floating the Galliano on top because we find that this creates an unbalanced cocktail, and the liqueur drops to the bottom anyhow.
1½ ounces Aylesbury Duck vodka
½ ounce Galliano l’Autentico
3 ounces fresh orange juice
½ ounce fresh lemon juice
Garnish: 1 orange half wheel
Short shake all the ingredients with 3 ice cubes for about 5 seconds, then strain into a Highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with the orange half wheel.