Scandi Collins

A tall, fizzy Scandinavian take on the Tom Collins with aquavit standing in for gin, lifted by lemon juice and soda water.

The Tom Collins entered documented cocktail history in 1876, when Jerry Thomas included it in the revised edition of his Bar-Tender's Guide — the foundational American cocktail manual first published in 1862. The drink takes its name from a social hoax that swept New York in 1874: people were told that a man named Tom Collins had been saying terrible things about them and could be found at a nearby bar. The drink that eventually took the name is a textbook tall sour: gin, lemon juice, sugar, and soda water in a Collins glass over ice, producing a long, refreshing, effortlessly drinkable format that works precisely because the structure is pure and requires nothing more of any base spirit than it possess a clean enough flavor to coexist with lemon and soda. Aquavit performs this role with considerable personality: where gin's juniper and botanicals add one kind of herbal note to the Collins structure, aquavit's caraway and dill introduce a distinctly savory, Northern European alternative that transforms the drink from a standard citrus sour into something with genuine character. Norwegian, Swedish, and American craft aquavit producers have consistently recommended the Collins format as the most accessible entry point to their spirit — a serve that requires no prior knowledge of aquavit and delivers the flavor with the familiar reassurance of a cold, fizzy drink in a tall glass.