The Whiskey Highball Is the Drink of Summer 2026: How to Build the Perfect Highball (and 8 Bottles for It)
Ask a bartender what people will actually be drinking this summer and you'll hear the same answer over and over: the highball is back. After a decade of increasingly elaborate, multi-ingredient cocktails, 2026 has swung hard toward clarity — clean builds, quality spirits, and a long, cold pour of soda. The tequila version of that story is Ranch Water, which we covered earlier this month. This is the other half: the whisky highball, the most forgiving and refreshing way to drink brown spirits when it's 90 degrees outside.
The beauty of the highball is that it asks almost nothing of you. Two ingredients, one glass, no shaker. But the bottle you reach for makes all the difference between a watery afterthought and the most quietly perfect drink of the season. Below is everything you need to build a great one — plus eight bottles, every one in stock and shipping now, that earn their place over ice and soda.
The eight bottles in this guide
What actually makes a great highball
A highball is whisky lengthened with a cold carbonated mixer — classically soda water, but ginger ale, tonic, or even cold tea all qualify. The Japanese, who turned the highball into a national institution, treat it with real care: hard ice, a chilled glass, gentle stirring to preserve the bubbles, and a ratio somewhere between 1:3 and 1:4 whisky to soda. The goal isn't to hide the spirit. It's to stretch it out so the aromatics lift off the glass and the finish stays crisp.
That's why the best highball whiskies aren't necessarily the most expensive or the most intense. You want something with character that survives dilution — grain sweetness, a little fruit, a clean backbone — without so much oak or peat that it turns muddy when the soda hits. Grain-forward Japanese whiskies, approachable bourbons, and smooth Irish blends all shine here. Big, tannic, cask-strength monsters are better neat.
The bourbons built for soda
If you want a distinctly American highball, start with a bourbon that leans bright rather than heavy. Legent ($38.99) is almost cheating: it's a Jim Beam bourbon finished and blended under the guidance of Suntory's Shinji Fukuyo, so it was practically designed to meet soda halfway. Its wine-cask and sherry-cask influence gives you a touch of dark fruit that blooms beautifully when lengthened.
For something rounder, Wild Turkey Longbranch ($39.99) runs its spirit through Texas mesquite and oak charcoal for a smooth, faintly smoky edge that makes a more savory highball. And when you want a true workhorse that does everything, Buffalo Trace ($78.99) is the bottle to keep on the counter all summer — sweet corn, a little spice, and enough structure to hold up in a tall glass without losing itself. Want to understand why bourbon and rye behave so differently in a glass? Our explainer on bourbon vs. rye whiskey breaks it down. You'll find all of these and more in our full bourbon collection.
The Japanese masters of the form
No one builds a highball like the Japanese, and no whisky was more purpose-built for it than Nikka Coffey Grain ($64.99). Distilled from corn in a continuous Coffey still, it's soft, vanilla-sweet, and almost tropical — the platonic ideal of a soda partner. Step up to Hibiki Harmony ($99.99) when you want a highball that feels like an occasion: its honeyed, orchard-fruit blend is exactly what made the Japanese highball famous, and a single bottle elevates a backyard gathering instantly.
If Japanese whisky is new territory for you, our complete guide to Japanese whisky is the place to start, and the full Japanese whiskey collection has bottles for every budget.
Irish and Scotch: the easy-drinking outliers
For the most sessionable highball of all, reach for Jameson ($38.09). Triple-distilled and famously smooth, it was made for ginger ale and a wedge of lime — the closest thing to a no-fail summer pour. Scotch drinkers aren't left out either: Glenfiddich 12 Year ($69.09) brings green apple and pear that turn remarkably refreshing over soda, proving single malt doesn't have to be a winter-by-the-fire ritual. New to scotch? Our beginner's guide to scotch will help you find your dram.
Rounding out the lineup, Four Roses Single Barrel ($54.99) is for the drinker who wants a little more backbone — a higher-proof, spice-forward bourbon that still plays beautifully long. It's the bottle that bridges the gap between "casual highball" and "I'll have one more."
How to build the perfect whisky highball
Fill a tall glass to the top with the hardest, clearest ice you have. Add your whisky — about an ounce and a half — and stir it briefly to chill. Top slowly with cold soda water poured down the side of the glass to keep the carbonation alive, give one gentle lift with the bar spoon, and finish with a lemon twist (or a knob of fresh ginger if you've gone the ginger-ale route). That's it. The colder everything is to start, the better it drinks.
Beyond soda water: ginger, tonic, and cold tea
Soda water is the purist's choice, but the highball is endlessly adaptable, and swapping the mixer is the easiest way to change the whole character of the drink. Crisp ginger ale or spicy ginger beer turns Jameson or Buffalo Trace into something with real kick — the foundation of a Whiskey Mule. Tonic water adds a pleasant bitterness that suits the lighter Japanese grain whiskies beautifully. And for a Southern porch twist, top a measure of bourbon with cold, lightly sweetened black tea and a lemon wheel for a grown-up Arnold Palmer that drinks dangerously easy on a hot afternoon. The rule of thumb stays the same across all of them: keep it cold, keep it carbonated where you can, and don't overthink the garnish. A single fresh citrus twist almost always does the job.
One more tip worth the effort: chill your glass. Ten minutes in the freezer before you build the drink keeps the ice from melting too fast, which preserves both the carbonation and the ratio. It's the small detail that separates a good home highball from a great one.
Stock your summer bar
The highball rewards good ingredients and almost no effort, which is exactly why it's the drink of the summer. Pick a bottle that matches your mood — bright Legent or Buffalo Trace for an American take, Nikka or Hibiki for the Japanese original, Jameson or Glenfiddich for easy sipping — and you're set from now through Labor Day. Browse the full whiskey collection or our most-loved bottles in best sellers, and have your summer highball kit shipped straight to your door.
