Old Tom Gin Is Best Enjoyed When Served In This Beloved 150-Year-Old Cocktail

Even ardent gin enthusiasts don't always know how much variety there is within the category. To help you dive into the world of this botanically driven spirit, we explained what defines these 10 different gin styles and how they're best served. You may know you like a London dry gin in a martini, but there's a somewhat lesser-known style out there, and the best way to enjoy it is in an arguably more famous cocktail: a classic Tom Collins with Old Tom gin. This is because Old Tom is a sweeter, richer gin, an ideal balance for the lemon juice and soda water in a Tom Collins.

Any Collins cocktail refers to a spirit with citrus and sugar, topped with soda water. It's essentially a sour cocktail, made "long" — a bit lower in overall alcohol and more of a leisurely sipper — with carbonation. A modern Tom Collins often calls for London dry gin. But truly, one of the best gins for a Tom Collins is Old Tom, because the components of a Collins are a perfect balance for Old Tom's sweetness and fuller body. Those factors play so well against bright, acidic lemon juice, and crisp, effervescent soda water. You get more body and richness in each sip, but it's tempered with tartness and carbonation. Cocktails don't get more refreshing or more flavor-forward than a true Tom Collins with Old Tom gin. 

If you need any further proof that Old Tom gin is a match made in heaven for a Tom Collins cocktail, consider the fact that the Tom Collins used to be made more commonly with Old Tom — it's likely how the drink got its name. 

Beyond the standard gin requirement of juniper, Old Tom is a loosely defined substyle. It's indeed sweeter than a London dry, though not as malt-forward as another substyle, genever. In the 1800s, pub owners would create their own cheap gin by flavoring neutral grain spirits, often sweetening it with ingredients like licorice. It's believed these pubs used black tomcat statues to signal they sold gin, but another origin theory claims "Old Tom" came from either a gin distillery manager named Thomas Chamberlain or a publican named Thomas Norris who called his strong, sweet house gin "Old Tom." 

The Tom Collins cocktail has its own backstory. Gin punches were all the rage in the late 1800s. A waiter at a London hotel, John Collins, created an early version of the Collins cocktail using genever and named it for himself. But as gin flourished in England and folks began to prefer the less heavy, malty profile of Dutch genever, the still-sweet Old Tom gin made its way into the cocktail's recipe. Over time, it nudged its name from John Collins to Tom Collins.