Cinzano of the vermouth market in Europe was measured in the low single digits, sales that placed it a distant second to Martini. As a result of a 1997 merger, Grand Metropolitan became Diageo; two years later, Diageo sold Cinzano to the privately held Gruppo Campari. The Cinzano bicycling team had a central role in the film "Breaking Away". Cinzano was well known in Britain for its humorous television advertisements featuring Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins. One of these featured the pair on a plane journey, with Rossiter accidentally hitting the "recline" switch on Collins chair, causing her to spill a
Tom Collins was being served in the bar rooms of New York City and elsewhere. Identified as among 'the favorite drinks which are in demand everywhere' in an advertisement for the 1878 edition of "The Modern Bartender's Guide" by O. H. Byron, both Tom Collins gin and whiskey and Tom Collins brandy were considered fancy drinks. In the 1891 book, "The Flowing Bowl: When and what to Drink," author William Schmidt listed the Tom Collins as including: <poem>Tom Collins Gin (1891) The juice of half a lemon in a large glass, a bar-spoonful of sugar, a drink of Tom gin; mix this