Tom Collins - Confusion Regarding Origin

Confusion Regarding Origin

In August 1891, British physician Sir Morell Mackenzie wrote an article in the 19th century influential magazines Fortnightly Review to establish England as the originating country for the Tom Collins cocktail and a person named John Collins as its creator. In the article, Mackenzie quoted an old song, the title of which he indicated to be "John Collins." However, the British weekly magazine Punch immediately disparaged Mackenzie's efforts, noting in August 1891 that the title of the song actually was "Jim Collins" and that Mackenzie otherwise inaccurately quoted and characterized the song. In an attempt to clarify the issue, American writer Charles Montgomery Skinner noted in 1898 that the Tom Collins made its way to the "American Bars" in England, France, and Germany, where the American invention stimulated curiosity in Europe and served as a reflection of American art.

As time passed, interest in the Tom Collins diminished and its origins became lost. Early on during the 1920s Prohibition in the United States, the American journalist and student of American English H. L. Mencken noted:

"The origin of the ... Tom-Collins ... remains to be established; the historians of alcoholism, like the philologists, have neglected them. But the essentially American character of is obvious, despite the fact that a number have gone over into English. The English, in naming their drinks, commonly display a far more limited imagination. Seeking a name, for example, for a mixture of whiskey and soda- water, the best they could achieve was whiskey-and-soda. The Americans, introduced to the same drink, at once gave it the far more original name of high-ball."

An alternate history places the origin in St. Louis.