American Collins Cocktail Recipe

By
Colleen Graham
Photo of Colleen Graham
Colleen Graham
Freelance writer and cocktail book author Colleen Graham is a seasoned mixologist who loves sharing her knowledge of spirits and passion for preparing drinks.
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Updated on 06/1/22
American Collins Cocktail

The Spruce / Madhumita Sathishkumar

Prep: 3 mins
Cook: 0 mins
Total: 3 mins
Serving: 1 serving

Fresh blueberries and sweet Bing cherries transform the popular Tom Collins into a delightful new cocktail. The American Collins recipe is easy to mix up and features a wonderful gin. It even has a bit of a patriotic theme, so it's perfect for holiday weekends when you have a few guests over for a cookout.

This recipe comes from Bombay Sapphire Gin, which is a favorite for many drinkers to pour into the Tom Collins anyway. Adding fruit to the mix sweetens up the drink while retaining that perfectly refreshing profile that makes all the collins drinks great.

Ingredients

  • 8 blueberries

  • 4 Bing cherries, pitted

  • 3/4 ounce simple syrup

  • 1/2 ounce lemon juice

  • 1 1/2 ounces gin

  • 4 to 6 ounces club soda, to taste

  • Bing cherry, for garnish

  • Lemon wheel, for garnish

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    American Collins Cocktail ingredients

    The Spruce / Madhumita Sathishkumar

  2. In a collins glass, add blueberries, cherries, simple syrup, and lemon juice. Muddle well.

    In a collins glass, muddle blueberries, cherries, simple syrup, and lemon juice

    The Spruce / Madhumita Sathishkumar

  3. Add gin and fill glass with ice. Stir briefly.

    add gin and ice to the berry mixture in the glass

    The Spruce / Madhumita Sathishkumar

  4. Top with club soda.

    add club soda to the mixture in the glass

    The Spruce / Madhumita Sathishkumar

  5. Garnish with a lemon wheel and cherry.

    American Collins Cocktail, garnished with a lemon wheel and cherry

    The Spruce / Madhumita Sathishkumar

Tips

  • Bing cherries are known as one of the sweetest varieties of the fruit. It's a great choice for any cocktail and pairs especially well with the sweet-tart taste of blueberries. You can, however, use any cherry you have on hand.
  • If cherries are out of season, use high-quality jarred maraschino or "cocktail" cherries instead. Avoid the neon red maraschinos because they're artificially dyed and flavored and will ruin an otherwise great drink.
  • Since this cocktail features fresh fruits, you'll find it best to use fresh-squeezed lemon juice. The average lemon yields about 1 3/4 ounces, so one fruit is enough for a few cocktails.

Recipe Variations

  • Take a cue from other collins cocktails and pour rum, tequila, vodka, or whiskey instead of the gin in this recipe.
  • Switch from club soda to another lightly flavored soda if you like. Ginger ale and citrus sodas are excellent alternatives that will create a slightly sweeter drink.
  • Raspberries make an amazing collins drink as well. Add a few to the muddle, substitute them for the blueberries, or simply mix the drink up with raspberries alone.
  • Another way to add extra flavor to this drink is with a flavored simple syrup. It could be another berry (e.g., raspberry, strawberry) or an herbal syrup like basil, lavender, or rosemary.

How Strong Is an American Collins?

Bombay Sapphire is bottled at a flavorful 94 proof, so that would seem to make this a stronger drink than most gin-soda highballs. However, it is the lone liquor and this cocktail actually mixes up to just 10 percent ABV (20 proof), the same as a gin and tonic.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
473 Calories
3g Fat
109g Carbs
10g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 1
Amount per serving
Calories 473
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 3g 3%
Saturated Fat 0g 2%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 22mg 1%
Total Carbohydrate 109g 40%
Dietary Fiber 24g 87%
Total Sugars 51g
Protein 10g
Vitamin C 439mg 2,195%
Calcium 239mg 18%
Iron 5mg 27%
Potassium 1462mg 31%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)