The Gimlet
guest drink from Michael Ruhlman
(from Blood & Whiskey #25)
Cocktail of the Month
This guest drink comes from
, whose new book — The Book of Cocktail Ratios: The Surprising Simplicity of Classic Cocktails — is a must have for those who want to up their mixology game by understanding the kinship between so many drinks, and how swapping one ingredient turns, for example, a Manhattan into a Rob Roy and a Negroni into a Boulevardier.
Here’s Michael (who publishes the great
on food, cooking, books, cocktails, travel, movies, and more)…
The Gimlet cocktail, a true classic, is emblematic of the way cocktails evolve. Just as the martini evolved from an equal-parts gin-vermouth cocktail to a drink with almost no vermouth, the gimlet too evolves.
“A real gimlet is half gin and half Rose’s Lime Juice and nothing else,” says Raymond Chandler’s detective Christopher Marlowe in The Long Goodbye (1953). “It beats martinis hollow.”
I’m not one to second guess the master, but the fact is, Rose’s Lime Juice, created in 1867 to preserve the lime juice that would prevent British sailors from developing scurvy, has become today lime flavored sugar water, making Marlowe’s cocktail today both too tart and too sweet. I argue for a fresh gimlet, a standard sour using fresh lime juice and simple syrup. An elegant, classic cocktail.
Gimlet Using Fresh Lime Juice
• 2 ounces gin
• 3/4 ounce lime juice
• 3/4 ounce simple syrup
• Lime disc or wedge
Combine the liquids in a cocktail shaker, add ice, shake till cold then strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with the lime.
If you want the original Gimlet, and I encourage this as well, make your own cordial. This is is an excellent one from Portland bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler. If you do, the drink comes together in a snap: 2 ounces gin, 1 ounce of lime cordial.
Cheers!
