Editing Tom Collins (section)

=== John Collins ===
{{Main|John Collins (cocktail)}}
A drink known as a John Collins has existed since the 1860s at the very least and is believed to have originated with a headwaiter of that name who worked at Limmer's Old House in Conduit Street in Mayfair, which was a popular London hotel and coffee house around 1790–1817.<ref name=Regan>
{{cite web
 | last= Regan
 | first= Gaz
 | title= The Tom Collins and the John Collins: A Discussion
 | work= gaz's Cocktail Book
 | url= http://www.ardentspirits.com/ardentspirits_old/Cocktails/1B20111017.html
 | url-status= dead
 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111019221957/http://www.ardentspirits.com/ardentspirits_old/Cocktails/1B20111017.html
 | archive-date= 19 October 2011}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 | last= Calabrese
 | first= Salvatore
 | title= Classic Cocktails
 | year= 1997
 | publisher= Prion
 | location= London
 | isbn= 1-85375-240-1
 | page= 166
}}
</ref>

[[File:Tom_Collins.jpg|thumb|right|A Tom Collins served at Rye in San Francisco, California]]

The following rhyme was written by Frank and Charles Sheridan about John Collins:
<blockquote><poem>My name is John Collins, head waiter at Limmer's,
Corner of Conduit Street, Hanover Square,
My chief occupation is filling brimmers
For all the young gentlemen frequenters there.</poem></blockquote>

Drinks historian David Wondrich has speculated that the original recipe that was introduced to New York in the 1850s would have been very similar to the gin punches that are known to have been served at fashionable London clubs such as the Garrick during the first half of the 19th century. He states that these would have been along the lines of "gin, lemon juice, chilled soda water, and [[maraschino]] [[liqueur]]".<ref name="Regan"/>

The specific call for [[Old Tom gin]] in the 1869 recipe is a likely cause for the subsequent name change to "Tom Collins" in Jerry Thomas's 1887 recipe. Earlier versions of the gin punch are likely to have used [[Jenever|Dutch gin]] instead.<ref name=Regan/>

Some confusion regarding the origin of the drink and the cause for its change of name has arisen in the past due to the following:

{{anchor|Tom Collins Hoax of 1874}}<!--- target for incoming link(s) --->