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The simplest soda fountain drink and the one that defines the category — lemon, sugar, acid phosphate, soda. Tart, mineral, clean, electric.

The Lemon Phosphate appears in every soda fountain manual published between 1880 and 1925. It was the drink soda fountain apprentices learned first because if they could balance the lemon-sugar-phosphate ratio they could make anything else on the menu.

Ingredients

• Fresh Lemon Juice1 ounce
• Simple Syrup¾ ounce
• Acid Phosphate0 teaspoon
• Soda Water4 ounces
• Lemon Wheel1 each

Directions

Combine lemon juice, simple syrup, and acid phosphate in a highball glass. Add ice. Top with chilled soda water. Stir gently. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

Notes

This is the Free Pour equivalent of an Old Fashioned: not flashy, completely correct, the test of whether a bar (or a bartender) takes the form seriously.