Godfather
35 ml Scotch whisky, 35 ml Amaretto, 237 ml Ice
Mamie Taylor
Scotch, lime and ginger - the highball that named a Broadway star.
Classic
Easy
3 min
Ingredients
- 60 ml Jigger One large side (50 ml) of a standard jigger, plus two teaspoons. Scotch whisky - A blended Scotch does this beautifully - save the single malt
- 20 ml Spoons A tablespoon and a teaspoon. Lime juice
- 100 ml Jigger Two large sides (2 x 50 ml) of a standard jigger. Ginger ale - Ginger beer if you want the bolder, older version
- 1 wedge Lime wedge (optional)
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Scotch and lime over ice, ginger ale to top, lime wedge in.
Method
- Fill a highball glass with ice.
- Pour in the Scotch and the lime juice.
- Top with ginger ale - or ginger beer, for the drink as it was first poured.
- Stir briefly, squeeze the lime wedge over the top and drop it in.
Serve it
Mamie Taylor
Named, in the 1890s, after an actress who was appearing on Broadway in a show called The Menagerie - the drink was apparently invented in her honour at a bar nearby, and it became so popular that her name ended up on bar lists from New York to San Francisco. It is a Buck in everything but name: spirit, lime, ginger, ice.
Getting it right
Two things make the difference here. The first is a dry ginger ale: this drink is Scotch, lime and fizz, and a sweet, creamy ginger ale will bury both. The second is the ratio, which wants to be drier than you would guess - 20 ml of lime against 60 ml of whisky keeps the smoke in the drink where it belongs. Traditionally the ginger was the fiercer ginger beer, which makes a bolder, spicier highball; ginger ale makes a gentler one that is easier to drink in quantity. Both are good, and both are better with ice right to the top.
Tasting notes
Peat and smoke through sharp lime and hot ginger, with a long, dry, faintly medicinal finish. It is what a whisky and ginger wants to be when it grows up.
If you like this, a Moscow Mule is the same shape made with vodka, and a Dark 'n' Stormy is the same shape made with rum.
More Scotch whisky cocktails
Penicillin
60 ml Scotch whisky, 20 ml Lemon juice, 20 ml Honey syrup, 1 slice Ginger, 7.5 ml Mezcal, 1 piece Crystallised ginger
Rob Roy
60 ml Scotch whisky, 30 ml Sweet vermouth, 2 dashes Angostura bitters, 1 Maraschino cherry