Highball
Highball is a cocktail category that is closely related to long drinks .
Highballs consist of a basic spirit , optionally other ingredients and a carbonated “filler”, for example soda water or ginger ale . The proportion of non-alcoholic ingredients predominates, with the proportion of spirits varying from 2 cl to 6 cl. Food is typically prepared and served in a highball glass, a tall beaker that is well filled with ice cubes. Decoration only plays a subordinate role.
The demarcation to long drinks is controversial. In the technical literature, the terms are often used synonymously and the glass sizes often do not differ either. Sometimes highballs are seen as comparatively smaller drinks, sometimes it is pointed out that highballs are always offered ready-made, whereas with long drinks the filler is often served separately.
The most original highball is probably the " Scotch and Soda " known since the 19th century . In the 1950s, the Moscow Mule made from vodka and ginger beer gained some notoriety in the United States, and 50 years later the Dark and Stormy (rum and ginger beer). The classics Gin Tonic , Horse's Neck and Vodka Lemon are also part of the highball family.
The New England Highballs form a special group , the basic spirit of which is filled with cranberry juice instead of soda or carbonated soft drinks . The Cape Cod (also Cape Codder or Vodka Cranberry ) consists of vodka and cranberry juice (alternatively, cranberry juice).
In the novels of the author F. Scott Fitzgerald , highballs are part of the "inventory"; they are consumed by the protagonists in considerable quantities like lemonade.
The private detective Philip Marlowe, hero of the novels and short stories Raymond Chandler, drank highballs made up of bourbon, ginger ale and grenadine.
Chartreuse tonic
Boulevardier highball
Sloppy Joe's Mojito ( Mojito variant with pomegranate syrup)
Highballs in Japan
Highballs are very popular in Japan and are also sold ready-mixed in beverage cans. Mostly a mixture of Japanese whiskey "Suntory Highball" as one of the most famous types, or instead of whiskey as the base, the Japanese rice schnapps Shōchū ; these highballs are known as Chuhai "Hai" from highball.
The “highball” achieved its status in Japan out of the need (and alcohol rationing) of the immediate post-war period. The breweries produced only small quantities of beer due to the raw material allocations, and the highball was an inexpensive alternative to sake . In the 2010s, highball had a revival in Japan. They can be found on the menus of most restaurants as an accompanying drink.
literature
- Rob Chirico: Field Guide to Cocktails: How to Identify and Prepare Virtually Every Mixed Drink at the Bar . Quirk Books 2005, ISBN 9781594740633 , pp. 141–142 ( excerpt from Google book search)