Rum Collins

A light, dry Cuban-style rum keeps it crisp and lets the lemon lead. A lightly aged Jamaican or a rhum agricole brings grassier, funkier notes that fight the soda slightly but give the drink more to say. Skip anything labeled spiced or flavored.

Structurally yes, and that's the point. What changes is what fills the gap when juniper leaves. Gin gives you pine and pepper against the lemon; rum gives you soft cane sweetness. The rum version is easier drinking, the gin version more bracing.

Only if you scale the rum with it. That 60 ml is what keeps the drink tasting of rum rather than of lemon water; a taller glass wants 60 ml of rum and 30 of lemon to hold its shape. Sharply carbonated soda from a small bottle also goes further than a flat glassful from a two-liter.

Build in the right order. Rum, lemon and syrup into the empty glass first, stirred together, then ice, then soda. Pour syrup onto a full glass of ice and it sinks and stays there, which means the top half of the drink tastes purely sour.

A classic Rum Collins calls for 45 ml (1.5 oz) White rum, 22 ml (0.75 oz) Fresh lemon juice, 15 ml (0.5 oz) Simple syrup, 60 ml (2 oz) Soda water. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.

A standard Rum Collins is roughly 13% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it about as strong as a glass of wine.

A Rum Collins is built directly in the glass over ice — no shaker required. Add the ingredients in order and give it a brief, gentle stir.