Welcome back drinkers. While on a recent trip to New York, I was reminded by a friend of just how good higballs are.
After having more than a few over the course of the evening, I wondered why I rarely have them out, or why I never really thought to make them at home either. They are about as simple as a drink can be: spirit, carbonation, garnish. I decided this week to start making these a thing. Rather than making a simple scotch and soda (also delicious), I wanted to see what other combinations were out there. The Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails has a nice scotch highball called the Mamie Taylor. Named after a famous Broadway actress in the early 1900s, it was considered highbrow for the time, and regarded as a drink for the upper class. Presumably due to the addition of the scotch. Unfortunately, prohibition derailed the popularity of this particular highball. Shall we see what all the fuss is about?
Mamie Taylor:
2 oz. Scotch
.75 oz fresh lime juice
Ginger beer or ale
Pour the scotch and lime juice in a highball glass filled with ice. Top with ginger ale/beer and garnish with a lime wedge.
This is a good highball. Simple crisp and straight to the point. My scotch choice was Johnny Walker red, and the mixer was ginger ale. I suppose you could use any scotch with this, but I would suggest nothing higher that Dewars or Johnny Red or Black.
Another suggestion I would make is to use ginger beer instead of ginger ale. I went with ginger ale since that’s what I had on hand. While the flavor was nice, it was a bit sweet. Ginger beer on the other hand is much more dry and the ginger flavor comes out more.
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Starting my evening with a Last Word (gin, lime, cherry liquor, chartreuse). That’ll hold me while I start dinner, followed by an Aviation (gin, lemon, cherry liquor, crème de Violette). Always got to be thinking at least one drink ahead!
That’s proper planning
When made like you have here these are fucking delicious and if made too sour deserve the name.
I went to a Johnny Walker event a while back and they showed us all these things you could do with the different colors. Red and Ginger was a good one. Red and OJ was another.
Red and OJ? Was it called the Leather Glove?
When I was a little Gumby, on Sunday evenings my grandfather came over to our house in Pittsburgh. He was a doctor, so sometimes we got shots, but usually the four of us kids had dinner, had baths, got into our pj’s, and then watched Ed Sullivan before bedtime. I always sat on my grandfather’s lap, and he always drank highballs. I still remember the way they smelled. Very comforting! This was a pointless, rambling, old lady story, but it’s a nice memory! Thank you for reminding me
The scotch, Johnny Walker Red. The mixer, a ginger beer. The woman?
A bitch named Tammy.
How was the speakeasy you guys went to?
Never got a chance to go in. We ended up at a bar across the street, then bar hopped back to Tribeca