Good evening, Mr. Collins
Yessir, I do enjoy a good Tom Collins once in a while.

1. Ensure you have adequate powdered sugar. I try to buy ethical sugar, which comes fairly coarse, for whatever reason, so I use my mini-food processor-robot to grind it down to a powder. Powdered sugar mixes easier, so you don't get a thick, grainy syrup at the bottom.

2. Now technically these things are supposed to be served in "Collins glasses". I relate to the idea of having a diverse array of glassware on multiple levels: there are good reasons to have different types of glasses, and regardless it's fun... a bit of class never killed anyone. But anyway, I personally think that the Collins glass goes a bit beyond both reason and emotion. It's essentially a large highball glass--tall and skinny. I think the tall glasses I have qualify somewhere between highball and Collins, so I use them for drinks like this and gin & tonics, Harvey Wallbangers, melonballs, rum & colas, and such.

3. Now add 2 ounces of gin, 2 teaspoons of sugar, and the juice of half a lemon. Obviously fresh juice is best, but I often use bottled lemon juice, either for expediency or for want of lemons. Good lemon juice is key either way... I use some sort of organic lemon juice that comes in a glass bottle from my local natural food store. About 2 tablespoons should suffice. This also makes it very easy to remember: it's the 2-2-2 drink. 2 teaspoons sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 ounces gin.

4. Add ice. Lots. Fill the glass. This isn't a huge hot-summer-day chugging drink. The taste belies the alcohol content. Plus, too much soda will dilute it.

5. Fill the glass with soda. Roughly half the liquid should be soda.

6. Adjust all parameters for taste and repeat until fully satisifed.

7. (optional) A straw is sometimes fun. Warning: drinks go down even faster with straws.

BONUS: Add a half of an ounce of cherry liqueur and your drink is magically transformed into a Singapore Sling! That's right, a good Singapore Sling is essentially a Tom Collins plus cherry... think cherry lemonade (mmmmmmMMMmm! refreshing!). Best thing I've ever tried (and they claim on the label that it's an ingredient in the "original" Singapore Sling) is Heering, a Danish liqueur. They don't carry it in the SAQ, and they recently stopped carrying it in the LCBO though...

Hmm I'm gonna email them right now. Singapore Slings are too tasty to give up on that easily.