History of the highball, Japan’s popular whisky and soda cocktail, from its British and American roots to the origin of its name

The highball is associated with high-end Japanese bars, but this cocktail of whisky and soda was popular in Britain and the US decades before it reached Asia

The origins of its name are debated, and procedures for preparing it differ between bartenders, but the drink’s beauty undeniably lies in its simplicity

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A chilled highball made with Suntory’s famous Kakubin whisky. There’s a lot more to this Japanese-favourite tipple than you might think. Photo: Shutterstock

Born in Italy and having worked in some of the world’s finest watering holes, Lorenzo Antinori is the co-founder of the award-winning Bar Leone in Hong Kong and has a passion for hospitality, exciting flavours, gummy bears, and pizza.

Published: 4:45pm, 26 Mar 2023

The simplest things in life are often the best: sharing a pizza with friends, watching the sunrise with a loved one or sipping a perfectly executed two-ingredient cocktail, such as a whisky and soda, on a sunny day.

In 2013, while I was cutting my teeth as bartender at the Savoy Hotel in London, I travelled to Japan for the first time. It was in Tokyo, at the Mori Bar in Ginza, that I had my first whisky and soda, also known as the whisky highball. It was a revelation.

While many associate the drink with high-end Japanese bars, the origins of the whisky highball are far humbler – and perhaps even had a British accent.

If we look at the early 1800s, the highball’s closest ancestor would be the brandy and soda, which was popular in England at the time.

A drawing from the 1800s by British illustrator George Cruikshank depicts a man who isn’t feeling well being relieved by his friends with a brandy and soda. Photo: Getty Images

With the Napoleonic wars halting cognac supplies from across the channel, Scotch became the spirit of necessity, and eventually the concoction crossed the pond, where – to quote cocktail historian David Wondrich and his seminal 2007 work Imbibe – “by 1900, the Scotch highball was the most fashionable drink in America”.