What is "rickey"

alcoholic drink made with carbonated water and lime juice, 1895; reputedly from the name of "Colonel" Joseph K. Rickey (1842-1903), Democrat, of Callaway County, Missouri, U.S., lobbyist and wire-puller, who is said to have concocted it to entertain political friends.\n\nAnd as long as there is thirst and limes, or lemons and gin, so long will the Honorable Joe Rickey be remembered in Missouri and his famous beverage tickle the palates of discriminating citizens. A hundred summers hence Joe Rickey will be called and Champ Clark and DeArmond forgotten.

["The Conservative," Nebraska City, Neb., July 6, 1899.]

n. (alternative spelling of Rickey English)

n. a mixed drink made of sweetened lime juice and soda water usually with liquor

The Rickey is a highball drink made from gin or bourbon, half of a lime squeezed and dropped in the glass, and carbonated water. Little or no sugar is added to the rickey. Originally created with bourbon in Washington, D.C. at Shoomaker's bar by bartender George A. Williamson in the 1880s, purportedly in collaboration with Democratic lobbyist Colonel Joe Rickey, it became a worldwide sensation when mixed with gin a decade later.

A recipe for the rickey appears as early as Daly's Bartenders' Encyclopedia (1903, p. 57) by Tim Daly:

GIN RICKEY. Use a sour glass. Squeeze the juice of one lime into it. 1 small lump of ice. 1 wine glass of Plymouth gin. Fill the glass with syphon seltzer, and serve with small bar spoon.

Since 2008 the rickey has enjoyed a resurgence with the revival of classic cocktails and a group of Washington, D.C.–based bartenders, known as the DC Craft Bartenders Guild, establishing July as Rickey Month. It was also featured with bourbon by political commentator and amateur mixologist Rachel Maddow on the Martha Stewart show for election night, 2008. Now most rickeys are made with gin (a gin rickey), also known as a lime rickey, particularly in its virgin cocktail variant served at soda fountains on the U.S. east coast.

The mojito, which originated in Cuba, is a popular relative of the rickey, made with key lime juice, rum, simple syrup or muddled sugar, soda water, and muddled mint leaves.

'''Rickey ''' is a surname or first name, and may refer to:

• Beth Rickey (1956-2009), Louisiana political activist who opposed David Duke
• Branch Rickey (1881–1965), a Major League Baseball executive
• Branch Rickey Jr. (1913–1961), son of Branch, also a Major League Baseball executive
• Branch Barrett Rickey, also known as Branch Rickey III (born c. 1947), son of Branch Jr., current president of the Pacific Coast League
• George Rickey (1907–2002), an American kinetic sculptor
• Rickey Henderson (born 1958), a former Major League Baseball outfielder who is baseball's all-time leader in stolen bases and runs scored
• Rickey Medlocke, lead guitarist of Blackfoot and Lynyrd Skynyrd

Rickey may also refer to:

• Rickey (cocktail), a family of cocktails