Gin Rickey

Novice

A Gin Rickey is 60ml of London Dry gin and 25ml of fresh lime juice over ice in a highball, topped with 100 to 125ml of cold soda water and finished with a lime wheel. There is no sugar in it. About 2.4 UK units. The Oxford Companion says the Rickey was popularised in the late 1880s at Shoomaker’s bar in Washington, D.C., by Colonel Joseph Kerr “Joe” Rickey, a lobbyist from Missouri, and the bartender George Williamson, that it began with bourbon, and that the Gin Rickey, first found in print in 1893, was the version most widely known by the mid-1890s. With no sugar to round anything off, the gin and the lime carry it. Squeeze the lime on the day and close to the drink: in our experience lime turns flat and bitter within hours, and a Rickey has nothing to hide that behind.

BuiltLong DrinkAperitifClassic

Glassware: Highball Glass

Garnish: Lime wheel

Ingredients

Serves

Gin

60ml

A juniper-heavy London Dry, around 40% ABV. With no sugar in the glass, the gin carries most of the flavour.

Fresh lime juice

25ml

Squeezed on the day and close to the drink. Lime loses its brightness within hours and turns bitter, and a Rickey shows the difference at once.

Soda water

100 to 125ml

Well chilled and from a fresh bottle, poured last down the inside of the glass. Less soda gives a sharper drink, more a longer one.

Instructions

Squeeze the lime juice the same day, as close to the drink as you can.

Fill a highball glass to the top with large cubed ice.

Add the gin and lime juice and stir briefly.

Pour the chilled soda water gently down the inside of the glass.

Lift once with a bar spoon, add a lime wheel and serve.

Our version

The IBA lists no Gin Rickey. We pour 60ml of London Dry gin, 25ml of fresh lime and 100 to 125ml of soda over ice, with no sugar and a lime wheel.

Source: our own specification. Last checked 9 October 2026.

Expert Tip

If it tastes too sharp, take out lime rather than add sugar. Five millilitres less juice fixes most over-sharp Rickeys; sugar and lemon turn it into a Tom Collins, a good drink and a different one. Use a London Dry with real juniper. There is no sweetener to round the edges, and a thin or very floral gin leaves lime and soda with a faint spirit note behind it. Pour the soda down the inside of the glass and lift once with the spoon. The bubbles are half the drink, and stirring them out leaves it flat.

The story

Behind the Gin Rickey

Flavour Profile

JuniperLimeDryEffervescentClean

Where It Comes From

The Rickey began with bourbon. The Oxford Companion puts the Rickey in Washington in the late 1880s, at Shoomaker’s bar, where Colonel Joe Rickey, a lobbyist from Missouri, took his bourbon with carbonated water and the lime was more than likely added by the bartender George Williamson. It adds that the name is also attributed to Representative William Henry Hatch and Fred Mussey, said to have been there and to have asked afterwards for a “Joe Rickey”.

The gin version took over by the mid-1890s, the Oxford Companion says, and its entry on the Gin Rickey finds it first in print in 1893. Rickey himself told the New York Herald that year that he “was not the author” of the drink, only “its introducer to the East”.

No Sugar

The Tom Collins and the Gin Fizz share the gin, citrus and soda and add syrup. The syrup softens the citrus and rounds the juniper.

Without it, the drink is sharper and drier, and everything rests on the gin and the lime. A gin with plenty of juniper gives a long drink with real flavour; a thin one gives lime and soda with a faint spirit note.

The Rickey Beside Its Sweetened Relations

Gin, citrus and soda, with and without sugar

Gin Rickey

Gin: 60ml
Citrus: 25ml lime
Sugar: None
Soda: 100 to 125ml
Method: Built over ice
UK units: About 2.4

Tom Collins

Gin: 60ml
Citrus: 30ml lemon
Sugar: 15ml simple syrup
Soda: 90ml
Method: Built over ice
UK units: About 2.4

Gin Fizz

Gin: 45ml
Citrus: 30ml lemon
Sugar: 10ml simple syrup
Soda: 60ml
Method: Shaken, served without ice
UK units: About 1.8

Drink	Gin	Citrus	Sugar	Soda	Method	UK units
Gin Rickey	60ml	25ml lime	None	100 to 125ml	Built over ice	About 2.4
Tom Collins	60ml	30ml lemon	15ml simple syrup	90ml	Built over ice	About 2.4
Gin Fizz	45ml	30ml lemon	10ml simple syrup	60ml	Shaken, served without ice	About 1.8

Add sugar and lemon and you have the Tom Collins; shake it and leave out the ice for the Gin Fizz.

Lime, Squeezed on the Day

Lime is the only citrus here, there is no sugar to mask it going stale, and no foam or liqueur to distract from it.

In our experience fresh lime holds its brightness for a few hours, then turns flat and slightly bitter. Squeeze it on the day and as close to the drink as you can.

A lime wheel dropped into the glass adds a little peel oil as the drink sits, and it costs nothing.

Built for the Long Afternoon

Its origin was a bar where political business was done slowly, over several drinks. The Rickey suits that: dry, cold and long enough to last.

How to Serve It

Built in a highball full of ice, the soda poured gently down the inside, a lime wheel dropped in. Serve it at once.

Make it

Make it at home

The Spirit

Gin

Gin is a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. Under the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008, juniper must lead the taste, the floor is 37.5% ABV, and the route the flavour takes sets the grade: plain gin, distilled gin or London gin. Our recipes count it at 40%, and it carries the Martini, the Negroni and the Gin and Tonic.

Learn more

Master the Techniques

How to cut a lime wheelin How to garnish a cocktail: twists, wheels, wedges and sprigs

Go further

More to explore

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Gin Rickey?

Gin, fresh lime juice and soda water over ice, with no sugar: 60ml of gin, 25ml of lime and 100 to 125ml of soda in a highball. Leaving out the sugar is what separates it from the Tom Collins and the Gin Fizz.

Who was the Rickey named after?

Colonel Joe Rickey, a lobbyist from Missouri. The Oxford Companion says the bartender George Williamson was more than likely the one who added lime at Shoomaker’s in Washington in the late 1880s, and that Rickey told the New York Herald in 1893 he “was not the author” of the drink, only its introducer to the East.

How is a Gin Rickey different from a Gin Fizz or Tom Collins?

Both of those add sugar; the Rickey does not. The Tom Collins uses lemon and simple syrup and is built tall over ice; the Gin Fizz is shaken with lemon and syrup and served without ice. The Rickey uses lime alone and is the driest of the three.

What gin should I use?

A London Dry with plenty of juniper. There is no sugar and nothing else in the glass to lean on, so the gin is most of the flavour. A soft, floral contemporary gin leaves lime and soda with a faint spirit note.

What does the soda water do?

It lengthens and lifts. Soda adds no sugar and almost no flavour, so it dilutes the gin and lime while the bubbles carry juniper and lime to the nose. Pour it last and gently, and keep it cold, or the lift goes.

When should I squeeze the lime?

On the day, and as close to the drink as you can. In our experience fresh lime juice holds its brightness for a few hours at most, then turns flat and slightly bitter. Never squeeze it the night before for a Rickey; there is no sugar to cover it.

How strong is a Gin Rickey?

About 2.4 UK units, all from 60ml of gin at 40% ABV; the lime and soda add none. The soda makes it long, not weak. UK units are ABV times millilitres divided by 1,000; the Chief Medical Officers’ guideline is no more than 14 units a week, spread over three or more days.

Sources.

Correct as of 19 October 2026.

The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Derek Brown), “The Rickey” (secondary source: popularised in the late 1880s at Shoomaker’s in Washington by Colonel Joe Rickey and the bartender George Williamson; Hatch and Mussey; Rickey’s 1893 statement to the New York Herald; the Gin Rickey best known by the mid-1890s).
The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Derek Brown), “The Gin Rickey” (secondary source: a variation on the original bourbon Rickey, first found in print in 1893; the official cocktail of Washington, DC).