Franklin & Sons 1886 Soda Water
Soda water built for carbonation above all else. In a highball the bubbles are not a texture but an ingredient, and the difference between a lively soda and a tired one is the difference between the drink working and not.
Quick Facts
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Neutral by design, with the carbonation doing the work — brisk and prickly rather than soft, and a clean finish that leaves the spirit where it was.
Storage & Handling
Cool, sealed, and cold before opening. Small bottles for service.
Usage
Anywhere from 100ml to 200ml over 50ml of spirit. It is the mixer for a whisky highball, and the one that dilutes a spirit without adding a flavour that has to be accounted for.
Carbonation Is the Ingredient
In a drink with two components and no flavour from one of them, the only variable the soda controls is how it feels. Sharp carbonation carries aroma up out of the glass and gives the drink a texture that reads as refreshing; soft carbonation makes the same spirit taste heavier and flatter.
This is the reason bartenders are fussy about bottle size and opening technique in a way that looks like affectation from the outside. It is not about the water. It is about the gas dissolved in it.
Soda Water, Sparkling Water, Mineral Water
They are not interchangeable, though they are used as though they are. Soda water is carbonated and usually carries added mineral salts, traditionally sodium bicarbonate, which gives it a very faint saline edge. Sparkling water is carbonated and nothing else. Sparkling mineral water is naturally mineral-bearing and often more softly carbonated.
For a highball, soda water is the traditional choice and the trace salinity is part of why. As with a savoury tonic, a little salt suppresses bitterness and lifts aroma.
The Japanese Highball
Japan takes whisky and soda more seriously than anywhere else, and the technique reflects that: the glass and the whisky are chilled beforehand, the ice is hard and clear, the soda is poured down a bar spoon to preserve the gas, and the drink is stirred exactly once.
None of that is ceremony for its own sake. Each step exists to keep carbon dioxide in the liquid rather than in the air above it, because that is the entire difference between a good highball and a disappointing one.
What to Pour Into It
Whisky is the classic and the one the technique was built around, but soda is the most neutral thing behind a bar and it lengthens almost anything without editorialising.
It is also the right choice when the drink already has plenty going on. A build with a liqueur, a syrup and a bitter does not need a mixer with opinions; it needs length and lift.
Pro Tip
Open it cold and pour it once. Carbonation escapes fastest from warm liquid and from anything stirred, so build the drink around the soda rather than stirring the soda into the drink.
Top Tips
- Buy small bottles. A large one is flat by the third drink and the third drink is the one you notice.
- Chill the soda, not just the glass. Cold liquid holds gas; warm liquid gives it up on the way out of the bottle.
- Stir once from the bottom, if at all. Every additional turn costs carbonation the drink cannot get back.
Possible Substitutions
- Fever-Tree Premium Soda Water: the parallel product
- Sparkling mineral water: usually softer carbonation and its own mineral character
History & Context
Carbonated water is a Georgian invention that became a Victorian industry, and it is where nearly every soft-drinks house began, this one included. The highball then made it a bar staple twice over: once in America around the turn of the last century, and again through Japan, where the balance of whisky to soda is treated as a craft in itself.
Common Questions
What is the difference between soda water and sparkling water?
Soda water is carbonated and usually carries added mineral salts, traditionally sodium bicarbonate, which gives a very faint saline edge. Sparkling water is carbonated and nothing more. The trace salinity is part of why soda suits a highball.
Why do small bottles matter?
Because carbonation leaves the moment a bottle is opened and keeps leaving. A large bottle is noticeably flat by the third drink, and in a two-ingredient highball that flatness is the whole drink.
How much soda to whisky?
Between two and four parts to one, depending on the whisky and the hour. Three to one is a good starting point; a heavier or peatier whisky can take more.
Often Used With
Guide by Jerry Can Spirits