Vodka Collins
A Vodka Collins is 50ml of vodka, 25ml of fresh lemon juice and 20ml of sugar syrup, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds, strained over fresh ice in a collins glass and topped with 90ml of soda water, with a lemon wheel and a cherry. About 2.0 UK units. It is the Tom Collins with vodka in the place of gin. London tradition credits the Collins line to John Collins, head waiter at Limmer’s Old House in Mayfair in the early nineteenth century, and Harry Johnson printed a John Collins and a Tom Collins in 1882. Nobody recorded the first Vodka Collins. Vodka adds strength and little flavour, so the lemon, sugar and soda carry the drink. That makes it a plain, clean long drink, and a useful control beside a Tom Collins: the only real change is the spirit.
Glassware: Collins Glass
Garnish: Lemon wheel and Maraschino cherry
Ingredients
50ml
At 40% ABV. It brings strength and little flavour, which leaves the lemon, sugar and soda to carry the drink. Choose one you would drink cold on its own.
25ml
Squeezed the same day. It is most of the flavour in the glass, so a tired lemon shows.
20ml
One part sugar to one part water, by weight. Twenty millilitres balances an average lemon; taste the juice first.
90ml
Cold and freshly opened, poured last. It lengthens the drink and lifts the lemon to the nose.
Instructions
Squeeze the lemon juice the same day.
Fill a collins glass to the top with cubed ice.
Add the vodka, lemon juice and sugar syrup to a shaker.
Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Strain into the collins glass over the fresh ice.
Top with the soda water, poured down the side, and stir once.
Garnish with a lemon wheel and a cherry.
Our version
There is no fixed historical measure for the Vodka Collins. Ours pours 50ml of vodka, 25ml of lemon and 20ml of syrup, shaken and topped with 90ml of soda: a little sweeter than our Tom Collins, to suit a spirit with no botanicals.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
With no botanicals or barrel in the glass, the lemon carries the drink. Squeeze it the same day and taste the juice before you shake, because lemons vary and the syrup is set for an average one. Strain onto fresh ice rather than tipping in the shaker’s contents. The shaken ice is chipped and part-melted, and it waters the drink down within minutes. Fill the glass to the top with ice; a full glass keeps the drink colder and each cube lasts longer. Pour the soda last, down the side, and stir once. More stirring flattens it.
Behind the Vodka Collins
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
London tradition credits the Collins to John Collins, head waiter at Limmer’s Old House on Conduit Street in Mayfair, a hotel and coffee house that thrived from about 1790 to 1817. The earliest printed recipes are in Harry Johnson’s bartender’s manual of 1882, with a John Collins on Holland gin and a Tom Collins on Old Tom.
Later books swapped in whiskey, brandy and other spirits, and vodka took its turn once American bars stocked it widely. The first Vodka Collins went unrecorded.
What Vodka Contributes
Strength and length, and little flavour. Every other Collins sets its spirit against the lemon: juniper in a Tom, malt and oak in a whiskey Collins.
With vodka, the lemon, sugar and bubbles are heard at their own volume. It drinks like a sharp, lightly sweetened lemonade with a spirit underneath.
The Collins Family
The Vodka Collins beside the Tom Collins and the John Collins
Vodka Collins (ours)
- Spirit
- 50ml vodka
- Lemon
- 25ml
- Syrup
- 20ml
- Soda
- 90ml
- UK units
- About 2.0
Tom Collins (ours)
- Spirit
- 60ml London Dry gin
- Lemon
- 30ml
- Syrup
- 15ml
- Soda
- 90ml
- UK units
- About 2.4
John Collins (IBA)
- Spirit
- 45ml gin
- Lemon
- 30ml
- Syrup
- 15ml
- Soda
- 60ml
- UK units
- About 1.8
| Drink | Spirit | Lemon | Syrup | Soda | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vodka Collins (ours) | 50ml vodka | 25ml | 20ml | 90ml | About 2.0 |
| Tom Collins (ours) | 60ml London Dry gin | 30ml | 15ml | 90ml | About 2.4 |
| John Collins (IBA) | 45ml gin | 30ml | 15ml | 60ml | About 1.8 |
The Control Glass
Because vodka adds so little, the Vodka Collins is the plainest way to learn the frame: how much acid a Collins carries, how sweet it should be, and what the soda does to both.
Make one beside a Tom Collins and the gin is the difference you taste. The lemon measures differ slightly, 25ml against 30ml, so match them if you want a strict comparison.
How to Serve It
Tall and cold, in a collins glass full of ice, with a lemon wheel and a cherry. It is a long, slow drink for a warm afternoon.
Made with gin it is a Tom Collins; served short, without the soda, a Vodka Sour.
Make it at home
The Spirit
VodkaVodka is spirit made from a farmed crop, usually grain or potatoes, distilled and refined so that the taste of that crop is deliberately reduced. Its legal minimum is 37.5% ABV, most bottles are 40%, and it may not be given a predominant flavour, which separates it from flavoured vodka and from gin. In a mixed drink it adds strength and body while the other ingredients carry the taste.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Vodka Collins?
How is it different from a Tom Collins?
Where does the Collins come from?
How much ice should go in the glass?
Should a Vodka Collins be shaken or built?
Why make it if vodka adds so little?
How strong is a Vodka Collins?
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Tom Collins
A Tom Collins is 60ml London Dry gin, 30ml fresh lemon juice and 15ml sugar syrup built over ice in a collins glass, topped with 90ml of cold soda and stirred once, with a lemon slice and a cherry. It is a collins in the plainest sense: spirit, citrus and sugar, topped with soda. The name comes from the Great Tom Collins Hoax of 1874, when people in New York and Pennsylvania were told that a man called Tom Collins was nearby, saying things about them. There was no Tom Collins. The drink the name attached to was older: London tradition credits John Collins, head waiter at Limmer’s on Conduit Street, with a gin drink of the same shape. Early recipes used Dutch genever, and Old Tom gin came into them later; the IBA still specifies Old Tom for a Tom Collins. This version uses London Dry for a drier, sharper drink, and the Old Tom version follows as a variation.
Vodka Sour
A Vodka Sour is 60ml of vodka, 25ml of fresh lemon juice and 20ml of simple syrup, shaken hard with ice for 10 to 12 seconds and strained over fresh ice in a rocks glass, with a lemon wheel and a cherry. About 2.4 UK units. With an egg white it needs a dry shake first, for 10 to 15 seconds, and goes into a chilled coupe. Vodka adds alcohol and almost no taste, so the drink is all lemon and of sugar set against acid. That makes it the plainest sour to learn on: every mistake shows. Nobody recorded the first one. It follows the sour pattern of spirit, citrus and sugar that bar guides printed in the nineteenth century, made with vodka once vodka became a standard bar spirit in the twentieth.
Screwdriver
A Screwdriver is 50ml of vodka and 120ml of fresh orange juice, built over cubed ice in a highball, stirred once and finished with an orange slice. About 2.0 UK units. It is not on the IBA’s current list. Older IBA lists gave 50ml of vodka to 100ml of orange juice; our extra 20ml of juice makes a longer, softer drink. The name is in print by 1949, when Time magazine reported from Istanbul on the latest Yankee concoction of vodka and orange juice, called a screwdriver. Americans in Turkey were using the name earlier in the decade. The usual explanation, that someone stirred the drink with a screwdriver for want of a spoon, has no source attached. With two ingredients, the juice decides the drink. Squeeze it the same day. Carton juice is heat-treated and loses much of the fresh fruit’s scent, and there is nothing else in the glass to make up for it.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026