Ingredients

2 ozgin
60 ml
½ ozfresh lime juice
15 ml
4 ozclub soda
120 ml

Instructions

Fill a highball glass with ice. Add gin and fresh lime juice directly into the glass. Top with club soda and stir gently to combine. Garnish with a lime wheel or spent lime half. The Gin Rickey is deliberately unsweetened — it's a dry, bracing, thirst-quenching drink that lets the gin speak for itself.

Sips & Tips

Technique

This is a built drink — no shaker needed. The key is fresh lime juice (never bottled) and well-chilled soda. Squeeze the lime directly into the glass and drop the spent half in for extra aroma. Use plenty of ice to keep it cold.

Balance

The Gin Rickey has no sweetener by design — it's meant to be bone-dry and refreshing. If you find it too austere, add a barspoon of simple syrup, but purists will object. Use a juniper-forward gin like Plymouth or Beefeater to give the drink backbone.

History

The Rickey was invented in the 1880s at Shoomaker's bar in Washington, D.C., originally made with bourbon for Colonel Joe Rickey. The gin version quickly overtook it in popularity. F. Scott Fitzgerald mentioned it in The Great Gatsby, cementing its place in American cocktail culture.

The Gin Rickey is proof that simplicity works. Three ingredients, no sugar, maximum refreshment. It's the drink for people who think a gin and tonic is too sweet. Cheers.

Variations

Bourbon Rickey

The original Rickey used bourbon instead of gin. It's a drier, more spirit-forward version that works well with a high-rye bourbon like Four Roses Single Barrel.