Editing Tom Collins (section)

===Early recipes===
The first published Tom Collins recipe appears to have been in Harry Johnson's 1882 book, ''New and Improved Bartender’s Manual or How to Mix Drinks of the Present Style''. This book contains a recipe for two Collins drinks, the John Collins and the Tom Collins. The John Collins calls for Holland Gin, which is most likely what is also known as Genièvre, but the recipe for the Tom Collins in this book is as follows:

<blockquote>'''Tom Collins'''
(Use an extra large bar glass.)
Three-quarters table-spoon of sugar;
3 or 4 dashes of lime or lemon juice;
3 or 4 pieces of broken ice;
1 wine glass full of Old Tom gin;
1 bottle of plain soda water;
mix up well with a spoon, remove the ice, and serve.
Attention must be paid not to let the foam of the soda water spread over the glass.</blockquote>
 
In the 1884 book, ''The Modern Bartender’s Guide'' by O. H. Byron there is a drink called a "John Collins' Gin" where he calls simply for gin with no specifications of which gin, lemon juice, sugar, and filled with soda. That book also has a "Tom Collins' Brandy", which consists of brandy, lemon juice, gum syrup and Maraschino liqueur, and filled with soda water built in the glass over ice. This book also lists a recipe for a "Tom Collins gin and whiskey", with the only instructions that it is "concocted in the same manner as a brandy receipt, substituting their respective liquors".
 
Another 1884 book, ''Scientific Barkeeping'' by E.N. Cook & Co, also includes both a John Collins and a Tom Collins, the former calling for Holland gin and the latter for whiskey. There is a recipe for the Tom Collins in the 1887 posthumous edition of [[Jerry Thomas (bartender)|Jerry Thomas]]' ''Bar-Tender's Guide.''<ref name="Great"/><ref name="Difford">{{cite book|last=Difford|first=Simon|year=2008|title=Cocktails: Over 2250 Cocktails|pages=351|publisher=diffordsguide|isbn=978-0-9556276-0-6|access-date=25 November 2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SV5YryuX3_EC&pg=PA351}}</ref> Since New York based Thomas would have known about the widespread hoax and the contents of his 1876 book were developed during or right after The Great Tom Collins hoax of 1874, it was believed by George Sinclair that the hoax event was the most plausible source of the name for the Tom Collins cocktail.<ref name="Great"/><ref name="Difford"/> Classified under the heading "Collins" with similarly named whisky and brandy drinks,<ref>{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Jerry|year=1887|title=Jerry Thomas' Bar-Tender's Guide or How to Mix Drinks|pages=36|publisher=[[Dick and Fitzgerald]]|access-date=25 November 2008|url=http://www.theartofdrink.com/book/pg36.php|archive-date=23 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080823184027/http://www.theartofdrink.com/book/pg36.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> Jerry Thomas' Tom Collins gin instructed:

<blockquote>'''Tom Collins (1887)'''
(Use large bar-glass.)
Take 5 or 6 dashes of [[gum syrup]].
Juice of a small lemon.
1 large wine-glass of [[gin]].
2 or 3 lumps of [[Ice cube|ice]];
Shake up well and strain into a large bar-glass. Fill up the glass with plain [[soda water]] and drink while it is [[wiktionary:lively|lively]].<ref name="Great"/></blockquote>

This was distinguished from the [[Fizz (cocktail)#Gin fizz|Gin Fizz]] cocktail in that the three dashes of lemon juice in the gin fizz was "fizzed" with carbonated water to essentially form a "gin and sodawater" whereas the considerably more "juice of a small lemon" in the Tom Collins essentially formed a "gin and sparkling lemonade" when sweetened with the gum syrup.<ref name="Great"/> The type of gin used by Thomas was not specified in his 1887 book, but was most likely Old Tom if that was responsible for the change in the drink's name.<ref name="ardentspirits">{{cite web|url=http://www.ardentspirits.com/ardentspirits_old/Cocktails/1B20111017.html|title=Ardent Spirits Bartender Bulletin|publisher=ardentspirits.com|access-date=26 August 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105024812/http://www.ardentspirits.com/ardentspirits_old/Cocktails/1B20111017.html|archive-date=5 November 2013}}</ref>