Sake Collins

A tall, sparkling sake cocktail built on the Tom Collins template. Light, citrusy, and effortlessly drinkable.

The Tom Collins is one of the most structurally simple and endlessly adaptable cocktail formulas in the canon: base spirit, lemon juice, sugar, and soda water over ice in a tall glass. The original Tom Collins was documented in Jerry Thomas's 1876 edition of his bartending guide and takes its name from a social prank that swept New York in 1874, when people were told that a man named Tom Collins had been saying terrible things about them and would be found at a nearby bar. The formula's beauty is that it works with almost any spirit that has a clean flavor profile, and sake — Japan's fermented rice wine, produced in Japan since at least the 3rd century CE — is a natural fit. Sake's alcohol level of roughly 14-16% ABV sits below most spirits, making the sake Collins lighter and more delicate than its gin or vodka counterparts, while the rice-derived sweetness and subtle umami of the sake replace the juniper bite of gin with something softer and more floral. As sake gained recognition as a cocktail ingredient in Western bars throughout the 2000s and 2010s, sake importers and producers actively promoted gateway serves like this one, arguing — correctly — that the familiar Collins format provided new drinkers with a comfortable entry point into the spirit's character. The sake Collins remains one of the most recommended introductory sake cocktails for that reason.