♣

Start your party with Jeff’s Ginger Whiskey Highball. It’s secret ingredients are a hand-made, man-made, kick-ass, at-last, drink-fast, what-a-blast ginger ale and a splash of lime. Add a couple cases of beer and you have the makings of a fancy Polish wedding. Na zdrowie!

♣

Jeff’s Ginger Whiskey Highball

(I’m exaggerating, of course. A couple cases of beer wouldn’t get you much further than the rehearsal dinner.)

Makes four 8-oz liquid servings, which fit neatly into 10-oz glasses with plenty of room for ice.

Ingredients

Candied Ginger leftover cooking liquid
½ tsp ground ginger
4 tsp freshly-squeezed lime juice
1 liter sparkling or soda water
4 shots good quality whiskey, such as Jack Daniel’s

Directions

1. Measure out 1 cup of the cooking liquid. If you have less than that – as little as ¾ cup – add water to bring the total amount to 1 cup.^[1]  Place the syrup in a small saucepan and heat it just until it begins to simmer. Off heat.
2. Place ground ginger in a very small container, like an espresso cup or teacup your double-size Batman shotglass. Add 1 Tbs syrup and stir vigorously until combined. Add the ginger mixture to the pot of syrup and stir to combine. Allow syrup to cool until it’s no longer hot. (Warm is a bit better than room temperature, but both are OK.)
3. Fill four 10-oz tumblers with ice. Into a glass measuring cup, pour 2 oz. ginger syrup. Add 1 tsp lime juice. Add soda to bring the total amount of liquid to 6 oz. Stir thoroughly, albeit somewhat on the gentle side. Add more soda to bring the total amount to 8 oz. Add a shot of whiskey (more or less, to taste). Pour into 1 tumbler. Repeat process to fill remaining glasses.

A Ginger Whiskey Highball makes a great companion to Kumquat Sours.

Of course, the big question is, “Can you make this without having to candy ginger first?” No. My answer is no. I’ve never tasted an ale or beer with the same balance of sweet and peppery, and the same ticklish effervescence. Still, can you make something similar that you might enjoy? Of course.

“Highball,” Somewhat Defined

Whiskey and ginger ale is such a popular highball, that some people accept it as the definition of the word. But in fact a “highball” is any type alcoholic mixed drink^[2] served in a relatively tall, straight(ish)-sided glass. Although that is the definition, and I’m sticking with it, I feel confident that if I were to walk into a bar and ask for a highball, I’d get

1. a blank stare
2. a blank stare barely masking a bad attitude, followed by some kind of aggressive behavior
3. “Did my grandfather put you up to this?”
4. “Jesteś krewny panny młodej? Czy pana młodego?“

Or, I’d get whiskey and ginger ale.

Bar terminology, like sex, has clear-cut and tidy definitions, but when you start searching for real-life examples you discover that actual practices are quite messy. If you were going to be very strict, you wouldn’t call whiskey and ginger ale a “highball” if you served it in a red Solo cup, would you? I would. I guess I’m not a real stickler on straight-sidedness. But what about height? Just how tall does a glass have to be to garner the name “highball?” Well, just as in other matters where size is important, people make all kind of claims and most of them are probably bullshit. But maybe you’re one of those people who thinks that height is not nearly as important as circumference. Touché, my friend. Now we’re talking like experienced professionals. The thicker ones are highballs, and the thinner ones are Collins glasses.^[3]

End result: If it holds somewhere between 8-12 oz of liquid and it seems unlikely that it could be reasonably described as “short and squat,” you have my endorsement.

Notes:

See Also:

Sweet Cherry
Cocktail

If you have to use pop, use Vernors

Adios
Motherfucker

Make Your Own Ginger Beer

Batman 3.5 oz Shot Glass

Last Words:

Happy TBOX!