A plain-spoken whiskey highball, the Presbyterian stretches Scotch long with equal parts club soda and ginger ale over ice, so it drinks brisk and dry rather than sweet. The soda keeps the malt up front while the ginger lends a faint, warming spice — a Whiskey Highball with half its water swapped for something livelier, sharpened by a couple of dashes of bitters and a twist of lemon peel if you like.
Garnish: Lemon Peel
Built · Highball · On the Rocks
build
Fill a highball glass with ice cubes.
add
Pour in the blended Scotch, then top with equal parts club soda and ginger ale; add bitters if using.
stir
Stir gently to combine without losing carbonation.
garnish
Garnish with a lemon twist.
No inventor or venue was ever recorded for the Presbyterian, and the drink is generally presumed to have surfaced toward the close of the 1890s. Two stories compete to explain the name: one ties it to the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, a word rooted in the Greek presbyteros, or "elder"; the other casts it as a teetotaler's tonic of ginger ale and soda that was quietly spiked with whiskey. It has endured as a traditional British-style highball, keeping close company with the Mamie Taylor, its relative made with lime.