A highball is a
mixed alcoholic drink composed of an alcoholic base
spirit and a larger proportion of a non-alcoholic
mixer
Mixer may refer to:
Electronics
* DJ mixer, a type of audio mixing console used by disc jockeys
* Electronic mixer, electrical circuit for adding signal voltages
* Frequency mixer, electrical circuit that creates new frequencies from two signals ...
, often a carbonated beverage. Examples include the
Seven and Seven
A Seven and Seven or 7 and 7 is a highball cocktail, a mixed alcoholic drink containing Seagram's Seven Crown, a blended whiskey, and 7 Up, a lemon-lime soft drink. It is typically served with ice. It was one of the most popular drinks in th ...
,
Scotch and soda,
gin and tonic,
screwdriver
A screwdriver is a tool, manual or powered, used for turning screws. A typical simple screwdriver has a handle and a shaft, ending in a tip the user puts into the screw head before turning the handle. This form of the screwdriver has been repla ...
(a.k.a. vodka and orange),
fernet con coca,
Tom Collins, and
rum and Coke (a.k.a. ''Cuba libre''). A highball is typically served over ice in a large straight-sided
highball glass
A highball glass is a glass tumbler that can contain . It is used to serve highball cocktails and other mixed drinks. An example size is diameter by in height.
A highball glass is taller than an Old Fashioned glass (lowball), and shorter and ...
or
Collins glass.
Highballs are popular in Japan, often made with
Japanese whisky as a haibōru (ハイボール), or mixed with
shōchū
is a Japanese distilled beverage. It is typically distilled from rice, barley, sweet potatoes, buckwheat, or brown sugar, though it is sometimes produced from other ingredients such as chestnut, sesame seeds, potatoes, or even carrots.
...
as a
chūhai
, an abbreviation of "shōchū highball" (焼酎ハイボール), is an alcoholic drink originating from Japan.
Traditional chūhai is made with barley shōchū and carbonated water flavored with lemon, but some modern commercial variants ...
(チューハイ). Various mixers can be specified by suffixing with -hai (〜ハイ), as in
oolong
Oolong (, ; (''wūlóngchá'', "dark dragon" tea)) is a traditional semi-oxidized Chinese tea (''Camellia sinensis)'' produced through a process including withering the plant under strong sun and oxidation before curling and twisting.Zhongguo ...
highball (ウーロンハイ, ūron-hai).
Etymology
The name may refer to the practice of serving drinks in
tall glasses, on the
dining cars of trains powered by steam locomotives, where the engine would get up to speed and the ball that showed boiler pressure was at its high level, known as "highballing". Alternatively, the name may have come from early
railroad signal
A railway signal is a visual display device that conveys instructions or provides warning of instructions regarding the driver’s authority to proceed. The driver interprets the signal's indication and acts accordingly. Typically, a signal mi ...
s with raised globes meaning "clear track ahead".
History
Initially, the most common highball was made with
Scotch whisky
Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland.
All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial disti ...
and
carbonated water
Carbonated water (also known as soda water, sparkling water, fizzy water, club soda, water with gas, in many places as mineral water, or especially in the United States as seltzer or seltzer water) is water containing dissolved carbon dioxide gas, ...
,
known simply as a '
Scotch and soda'.
See also
*
List of cocktails
A cocktail is a mixed drink typically made with a distilled liquor (such as arrack, brandy, cachaça, gin, rum, tequila, vodka, or whiskey) as its base ingredient that is then mixed with other ingredients or garnishments. Sweetened liqu ...
References
{{Lists of beverages
Cocktails
Lists of cocktails