Hello once again and happy Friday. This week I went looking for simplicity. I don’t know what it was this week, but I was wiped out and needed something stupid easy. Cue the search for some sort of high ball! Or, more specifically, a Ricky. I went with that specifically since you can use any spirit you want in this application and it will still work. I went with rye since I felt that I was featuring gin a lot recently and wanted to mix things up a little bit, and utilize an old stand by. Variants of this also call for ginger ale/ginger beer. For some reason, those are referred to as “bucks” Either way both sound delicious. Only having club soda on hand kind of made the Ricky vs Buck debate moot.

Ricky

.5 oz. Fresh lemon or lime juice ( I used lime today)

2 oz. Spirit of your choice (Rye whiskey)

4 oz. cane based ginger ale or ginger beer, or club soda

Squeeze citrus of choice into Collins glass and add shell (optional). Add ice. Add spirit and fill with ginger ale/beer/club soda

Half ounce of lime is more than enough to express on the aroma side. It’s much stronger than I would have anticipated.

This is…interesting. Not really what I expected. I thought I was gonna get more rye flavor in this, but the soda and the lime really takes over. I mean I wasnt expecting straight rye kind of zip but I thought it would be able to power through the soda and lime. The lime is really what stars here, and it toes the line of refreshing and slightly too sour for my taste the entire sip. I’m giving the edge to refreshing since I keep coming back to this highball as often as I would with any other cocktail I made since the slightly stronger lime notes subside rather quickly once you’re done having a sip of this. Saying that though, I might leave this as a one and done. While drinkable, the thought of more lime on the palate is ever so off putting.

I’ll definitely make this again, but I think I’d try the ginger ale/beer route vs. the soda water. I would think the ginger would add a little more depth of flavor, as well as holding the lime back ever so slightly so it balances out and isn’t quite as tart as the soda water based version is.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)