Can you guess what’s in this highball? I’ll give you a hint - some people also call this a “Morgan Daniels.” I guess that name is as appropriate as the other, but I liked Pirates of the Caribbean, and I knew someone named Morgan Daniels once who kinda rubbed me the wrong way, so I’m going with Captain Jack.

Captain Jack - Recipe:

• 1 oz Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
• 1 oz Jack Daniels
• Balance Root Beer

Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour in the rum and whiskey, then fill the rest of the glass with root beer and serve.

Highballs are some of the most popular drinks on the planet. Almost everybody who has had a drink has had one, and most people’s favorite drinks are highballs, even if they don’t know what a highball is.

The Highball family of drinks is built upon a simple formula: Liquor and a Balance. That is, first you pour the liquor by measure, and then you “balance out” the rest of the glass with a non-alcoholic ingredient. Because of this, most of the drinks are referred to based solely on their ingredients - you know, this and that. Like, you know, Jack and Coke, Vodka and Red Bull, et cetera.

Nobody really knows the origin of the highball’s name, but there are lots of theories out there. What people do agree on, however, is that they were originally intended to be less strong than the classic, all-alcohol cocktails, so they could be enjoyed any time, instead of just late at night after a big dinner. The reason for this is that they were created during the time when alcoholic beverages were more for when people were simply thirsty than for when people get together to have a good time. Bartenders needed recipes for drinks that were quick and easy to make, yet light enough for workers to not get completely trashed off of one or two drinks, because they were just stopping by during their lunch hour.

Nowadays, having so much as a beer with your burger during lunch can get you canned, so try not to put the highball during the workday theory into practice unless you have a highly unusual level of job security.

As for historical specifics, I won’t pretend to know where exactly they came from or how they were named, so instead I’ll do one better - this week, I’ll be covering the most popular highball drinks around, and, of course, I’ll show you how to make them. Stay tuned.

Highball - Recipe:

• 1.5 oz whiskey
• Balance ginger ale

Fill a highball glass with ice; add the whiskey, then fill the rest of the glass with ginger ale and serve. (Told you they were quick)

This drink, despite its main ingredient, was not invented in Mexico, but rather in Arizona. It became popular because of constant references in pop culture; hit song by groups as diverse as The Eagles and Cypress Hill, a movie with Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell, and a finishing maneuver by popular North American wrestler Konnan. It also doesn’t hurt that it also tastes great.

Tequila Sunrise - Recipe

• 3 oz. Tequila
• Balance Orange Juice
• Splash of Grenadine
• Orange and Cherry Garnish

Fill a pint or highball glass with ice, and pour your tequila, then balance (nearly to the top) with orange juice. Tilt your glass, and pour some grenadine down the side of the glass, then set it upright, so that the grenadine slowly trails down to the bottom of the glass. Garnish with a cherry and slice of orange, then serve. (To make a Tequila Sunset, pour the grenadine at the bottom first, then add the ice, tequila and OJ.)

Sex on the Beach isn’t a particularly strong drink (usually, anyway), but it is pretty controversial. Just to avoid having to say the word “Sex” in the title, chain restaurants often rename it. For instance, at Red Robin, it’s called “Sand in your Shorts,” and at TGI Friday’s, it’s called “Fun on the Beach.”

Whatever you want to call it though, it tastes great, and you can drink a few of them before getting truly drunk.

Sex on the Beach - Recipe:

• 1 1/2 oz vodka
• 1/2 oz peach schnapps
• 2 oz cranberry juice
• 2 oz orange juice

Add vodka and peach schnapps to a highball or pint glass over ice. Fill with equal measures of cranberry juice and orange juice, and stir. Garnish with a cherry and/or orange slice (optional)

This one’s going to be the last “Iced Tea” drink for a while. Although there are literally dozens of different variations of the Long Island Iced Tea formula, I’m not going to dwell on this one variety of drink for the entire month. These series are basically here to introduce you to different families of drinks; once we’ve established a few of the most important drink varieties, I’ll begin posting individual drinks based on what’s most popular as well as the best tasting. So, for the end of our first series, I wanted to finish off with a winner: the Tokyo Tea.

This one has a sweet (but not too sweet) melon flavor, because of the Midori liqueur balance. They’re so good that you can barely tell you’re drinking liquor, but don’t get too crazy with these: each serving is around one third alcohol, which would make it about a 66 proof beverage.

Tokyo Tea - Recipe:

1 part vodka
1 part rum
1 part gin
1 part 1800® Tequila
1 part triple sec
Balance Midori® melon liqueur

Combine all ingredients in your cocktail shaker. Shake, strain into a small highball glass filled with ice, and garnish with a cherry.

We’re on the final lap of our Iced Tea drinks series, so I’m going International. Let’s start with the Jamaican Iced Tea drink. This one seems really similar to the Long Beach Iced Tea we saw yesterday, but with two very big differences. First, instead of light rum, this drink recipe calls for Myer’s brand dark rum, which instantly makes this a sweeter yet smoother beverage. We’re also going to go ahead and replace the cranberry juice with pineapple juice, for a much more tropical flavor. Jamaican Iced Tea is a really sweet, fun beverage; great for any summer event you’re throwing, or just any party with an “Island” theme to it.

Jamaican Iced Tea - Recipe:

1 part vodka
1 part gin
1 part Myer’s® dark rum
1 part triple sec
2 parts pineapple juice
2 parts sweet and sour mix

Fill a mixing cup (or your martini shaker) with ice, and add the vodka, gin, triple sec, and Myer’s. Balance with pineapple juice and sweet and sour mix, pouring in both at the same time (typically only bartenders pour like this, so this move will really impress your guests!). Shake, then pour into a pint, highball or collins glass. This drink uses a flag garnish: to make a flag, spear a pineapple down the middle with a toothpick. Stick a maraschino cherry on the top end of the toothpick, then hang your flag off the side of the glass (also a very impressive touch.)

We’re heading over to the West Coast today, for a look at the Long Beach Iced Tea, another popular iced tea drink. A friend of mine (yes, also a bartender) orders this whenever we go out in a big group. He does it mainly because everyone else always orders Long Islands, and he likes to be different for the sake of standing out. It’s a really gimmicky move, but it’s also a really tasty move; this drink is delicious!

Long Beach Iced Tea - Recipe:

1 part vodka
1 part light rum
1 part gin
1 part 1800® Tequila
1 part triple sec
Balance cranberry juice

Mix ingredients together, over ice, in a pint, collins or highball glass. Pour into a shaker. Shake a couple times and pour ingredients back into glass. Garnish with an orange slice.

Not as in “Black gold, Texas tea.” This “Iced Tea” variation was invented in the Lone Star State. And because everything’s bigger in Texas, this recipe is, too. This particular drink recipe is measured for mixing in a pitcher. The next time you have a few friends over, show them a good time, Texas Style. (Oh, and make sure they take cabs home.)

Texas Tea - Recipe:

2 oz 1800® Tequila
2 oz rum
2 oz vodka
2 oz gin
2 oz bourbon whiskey
2 oz triple sec
2 oz sweet and sour mix
Balance with Cola

Fill a 1 gallon pitcher with ice. Add all the ingredients except the coca-cola. Stir it up, add the cola and then stir again. Serve up to your friends in glasses.

This is a drink I heard nothing of until my last trip to Florida last December. They told me all about it, and I was skeptical, because it sounded suspiciously like a Georgia Peach Iced tea. The bartender, offended, served me one for free, guaranteeing that I’d love it so much, I’d be ordering them all night.

Try out this recipe, and enjoy the drink that proved me wrong that night.

Miami Beach Iced Tea - Recipe: