5 Best Sodas To Pair With Whiskey

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There are plenty of ways to enjoy your whiskey, whether neat, on the rocks, or in a cocktail. Sometimes, you may crave something a bit lighter and more refreshing than the spirit on its own, and maybe you just don't have the energy to craft a complicated cocktail. That's where the highball comes in. It's as simple as mixing a whiskey and the soda of your choice over ice. Even for a drink this simple, you still have some decisions to make. The kind of soda you choose to use in combination with your spirit of choice — whether it's bourbon, rye, Tennessee whiskey, Irish whiskey, or even Japanese and Scottish whiskies — can make or break your highball.

With only two ingredients in a highball, each one has a heavy load to carry. Avoid sodas that are low quality since they may be overly sweet or less effervescent. Also, avoid sodas that are super fruity, such as artificially flavored grape or strawberry flavors; they overwhelm the whiskey rather than complement it. To help you, we've come up with a list of the five best sodas to pair with whiskey. It not only includes classic choices, such as cola, ginger ale, and lemon-lime sodas, but also Dr Pepper (which is becoming more popular of late) and Mountain Dew (which was originally created as a whiskey mixer).

Cola and whiskey have been a classic combination since the beginning of the 20th century with the best-known combination being Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey and Coca-Cola (Jack and Coke). Cola works well with a variety of whiskeys, especially bourbon, because they share some flavors in common, such as vanilla and caramel, and the fizzy soda plays well with whiskey's complexity. Our preference is for Coca-Cola since it's very effervescent, has lots of acidity, and isn't cloyingly sweet like some other colas.

Canadian whisky, such as Crown Royal, is a popular choice, and rye, with its peppery spiciness, can cut through the cola. A lime wedge is often added to boost the citrus flavors in the drink. Even Scottish whisky, including peated single malts, can be paired with Coke. Case in point: There are folks who swear by highballs made with Ardbeg 10 or Lagavulin 8 or even 16 mixed with Coca-Cola. The drink is called a Smoky Cokey and the smokiness and umami of the whisky work perfectly with the cola's spiciness. Another classic soda that's paired with whiskey, in a combination as old if not older than whiskey and cola, is ginger ale.

Ginger ale perfectly pairs with whiskey since the sweet spiciness of the soda balances the whiskey's oaky richness and the effervescence helps carry the whiskey's flavors to the nose. It's a combination with a long history. As far back as the late 19th century, there was a cocktail called the stiff horse's neck, which was simply ginger ale and bourbon with a lemon peel spiral. While rye or bourbon are the go-tos for this drink, Irish whiskey is another classic spirit that pairs well with ginger ale. Add a hefty squeeze of lime and it becomes an Irish buck and ups the refreshingness of the drink. Unpeated Scottish whisky, such as Glenmorangie or Glenlivet, also pairs well with ginger ale. Likewise, Japanese whisky, which is often drunk in highballs with soda water, also sings when combined with ginger ale. The richness of the whisky and spiciness of the ginger play well together.

Your choice of ginger ale brand is key. We recommend Fever Tree ginger ale or Q Mixers ginger ale, which use lots of real ginger for a nice kick, are well balanced, and not overly sweet. If you're looking for a drink with even more ginger flavor, go with ginger beer. There's a reason the combination of whiskey and ginger ale (and ginger beer) has been popular for generations.

Dr Pepper is having a moment as a mixer and a cocktail ingredient, being combined with various spirits as different as tequila and coconut rum. Whiskey and Dr Pepper are also being combined in drinks such as the Pepper Jack. This two-ingredient cocktail made from Jack Daniel's and Dr Pepper has a unique flavor profile that includes hints of cherry and almond. As the name suggests, this drink uses Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey; bourbon and rye also work well.

If you're interested in getting into slightly more complex drinks using Dr Pepper, there are a ton of newer cocktails that include this soda. Among these are the good doctor, which adds bittersweet amaro into the mix with rye and Dr Pepper being the only two other ingredients. Then there's the cherry bourbon smash, which plays up the soda's cherry notes by including muddled Maraschino cherries, bourbon, lemon juice, and Dr Pepper. If you're looking to keep things simple, just combine whiskey and the soda. If you happen to have an orange at hand, a thick slice of the peel adds a hint of citrus into the already flavorful drink.

Probably the best known whiskey and lemon-lime soda highball is the 7 and 7, a drink that combines Seagram's 7 Crown whiskey and 7 Up. This drink was invented by the two companies in the 1950s to boost sales, and it worked. It became very popular in its heyday in the 1970s. If you're looking for a retro drink that's not as heavy as a Jack and Coke, swap it for a 7 and 7, which is a refreshing, easy-drinking highball. The acidity of the soda complements the oakiness of whiskey. Bourbon also works here, as do most lemon-lime sodas. But, like cola, go for a name brand such as Sprite or 7 Up. Both have a lot of crispiness and lemon-lime flavor.

If you're willing to take a few extra steps, there's another old school drink from the early 1960s that includes whiskey and 7 Up. It's called the pride of St. Louis, and it's a refreshing mixture of the whiskey of your choice, lemon juice, 7 Up, and a few dashes of Angostura bitters. But, again, if you're looking for something easy to make and drink, it doesn't get simpler than a highball of whiskey and lemon-lime soda.

The electric green, caffeine-rich soda Mountain Dew may seem a bit of an outlier as a mixer for whiskey, but the two have a history going back to the 1940s. Brothers Barney and Ally Hartman from Knoxville, Tennessee, came up with the soda as a mixer for whiskey and began bottling it in 1948, long before Mountain Dew became a beloved soda in Appalachia. It remained a popular mixer for bourbon, especially in parts of the American South.

The soda's formula has changed quite a bit since then, but there are still fans of highballs made with this soda and whiskey. Bourbon's oakiness can help cut through the soda's sweetness while Mountain Dew's citrus flavor works well with this whiskey's traditional flavor profile. One popular version is a Mountain Jack made with Jack Daniel's and Mountain Dew. A similar drink, Turkey Dew, uses Wild Turkey bourbon in place of the Jack Daniel's. Irish whiskey can also work, as can other Mountain Dew flavors. A version of the Irish redhead cocktail uses a whiskey, such as Jameson's, paired with Code Red, replacing the traditional lemon-lime soda and grenadine in the drink.

If you're looking for some simple whiskey highballs that go down easy, or if you're new to the spirit and looking for a way to wade into the shallow end, these five sodas are the way to go.