Home » Bartending News » The Triumphant Rise of the Highball
By Rich Manning
There’s no such thing as “highball season.”
Yes, highballs make for great poolside summertime bangers. But they’re terrific all year round. They’re also having a moment in the bartending world, and this resurgence doesn’t have a whole lot to do with calendar dates.
“I think a lot of it has to do with our industry’s obsession with force-carbonated cocktails,” explains Stuart Weaver, partner and general manager at Lady Jane in Denver. “Bartenders are loving the fun of elevating a seemingly simple drink with perfectly calibrated, aggressive bubbles.”
A highball’s no-nonsense properties are also a terrific counterpoint to the industry’s ongoing maximalist movement of byzantine drinks. Such straightforwardness can lead to a few false assumptions. “The biggest misconception about a highball is simplicity doesn’t equal beauty,” states Evan Hawkins, owner of Romeo’s in New York City. “Just because it looks simple doesn’t mean that it can’t be a delicious drink made with a great amount of care.”
There is enough wiggle room to add house-made syrups and complex modifiers into a highball’s traditional spirit-and-mixer build without turning it into a Collins cocktail, a Spritz, or something else entirely. However, this works if its soul isn’t destroyed in the process. “A highball just needs to be delicious and crushable,” Weaver says. “If you must have complex prep, keep the execution simple – clean flavors and great carbonation – and you’ll keep that classic vibe intact.”
That vibe tends to be easygoing and unfussy, which is precisely why the highball renaissance probably won’t cease any time soon. “It’s part of our culture,” Hawkins says. “Fancy drinks are fine, but sometimes people just want a simple drink.”
This fancy highball “turned into a bit of a chemistry project,” according to Weaver. Featuring a house-made bay leaf cream soda along with honey and quince syrups, this drink walks the tightrope between rich creaminess and aggressive carbonation.
(Created by Ashley Floyd, bartender, Lady Jane)
1.25 oz Absolut Vodka
1.5 oz Quince Syrup
.25 oz Honey Syrup
.25 oz Cointreau
3 oz Bay Leaf Cream Soda
1 d Bitter Truth Lemon Bitters
Shake and strain over Bay Leaf Cream Soda in COLLINS
Garnish: Pinned Bay Leaf (fresh), Long Straw
“I mainly wanted to create a crusher that sounded like something you’d want to drink on a Saturday afternoon when it was 75 degrees,” says Hawkins. He achieves this goal by adding a cucumber melon cordial to gin and elderflower tonic – an addition that also helps keeps things appropriately fizzy.
Created by Evan Hawkins, owner, Romeo’s
Specs TK