A Scotch whisky fizz lengthened with soda and lifted by a frothy egg-white head, with a whisper of absinthe threading anise through the smoke and lemon (sometimes a touch of lime) keeping it bright. Tall, sparkling and lightly sweet over ice, it drinks as a smoky, anise-edged sour built for daylight rather than the witching hour.
Shaken · Highball · On the Rocks
add
Combine Scotch whisky, lemon juice, lime juice (if using), simple syrup, absinthe, and egg white in a shaker.
shake
Dry shake without ice to emulsify the egg white, then add ice and shake again hard until well chilled.
strain
Strain into a chilled highball glass over fresh ice (or, for a foamier crown, into an ice-filled glass).
top
Top with chilled soda water and serve at once — the drink loses its effect if it sits.
Harry Johnson set the drink down in his New and Improved Bartender's Manual of 1882, presenting it as his own and recommending it as a morning pick-me-up that would sharpen the appetite and "quiet the nerves." His version was measured in dashes — lemon and lime, absinthe dissolved in water, the white of an egg and a wineglass of Scotch — shaken with shaved ice and finished with seltzer or Vichy water. Later bar books kept it in print as the fizz grew more generic: Harry MacElhone's 1923 recipe dropped the lime and called for plain soda, while the Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930 still paired lemon with lime.