Tasty Tip 2

The classic highball. This is one of my favorite cocktails.

A highball is technically any cocktail where there is more mixer than alcohol in the drink (gin and tonic, Jack and Coke, etc.). The most common back in the day, however, went something like this:

2 oz. whiskey or bourbon
3 - 5 oz. ginger ale
Lemon twist

From Esquire magazine: The perfect highball: one part rye to three parts ginger ale over ice. (Personal admission - I don't know if I've ever had a rye (a whiskey made with rye grain).)

So if you went to a bar back in the 30s (okay, legally, after December 5, 1933) and ordered a highball, you probably got this drink. (Ginger ale was a big hit during prohibition because it helped mask the flavor of really egregious hooch.) Today the term highball mostly refers to a type of glass rather than a type of drink.

But be warned. If you go into a bar and order a whiskey and ginger ale (i.e., a Jack and ginger), you might not be getting what you're asking for. Amazingly, there are quite a few bars that don't have ginger ale, so they do that voodoo of mixing Coke and 7-Up together. Always ask if they have actual ginger ale (SEE UPDATE BELOW there's an urban legend that Canada Dry Ginger Ale does not have ginger in it. From my research (searching the Great Big InterWeb) I believe that Canada Dry Ginger Ale DOES have ginger, but lists it on the label as "natural ingredients"). The Canada Dry website claims it's the same recipe created 100 years ago, which surely must have had ginger in it, otherwise why call it ginger ale? I know, I know, that's not great logic, but what'cha gonna do?

I think I'll send Canada Dry an email and ask.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: This just in from Canada Dry (okay, actually from Cadbury Schweppes):

The “natural flavors” listed on the ingredient statement contains flavor from many types of real ginger roots. The ginger flavor in ginger ale is extracted from the ginger roots and then blended with other citrus flavors to produce the unique flavor in ginger ale. Since the ginger flavor is combined with natural flavors, we chose to label the combination “natural flavors” on the ingredient statement.