Thursday 5 August 2010

Gimlet

The Gimlet

a really old fashioned cocktail, great for warm summer nights.
It is just gin & Rose's Lime juice. Some people say 50-50, others (myself included disagree).

1 Part Rose's Lime Juice(*)
4 Parts good dry gin

stir over ice till brutally cold, serve.

There is a theory (quite a romantic one, which I like) that the drink is named after a royal navy surgeon, one Surgeon General Sir Thomas D. Gimlette, KCB  who introduced the drink to the officers mess as a way of making the scurvy preventing lime ration palatable. The ratings of course took theirs with rum, making grog. Alternatively it is named after the tool, due to the penetrating nature of the drink on the imbibers sobriety. Like I said I'm going with sir Thomas, because a drink this good has to be good for you.

(*)Rose's Lime juice is a cordial (also with a fine naval history) most authorities agree that it is required in a proper gimlet. Ersatz versions can be made with lime juice & gomme or other lime syrups and for those desperate to ruin a fine drink vodka can of course be substituted for gin, but why would you want to do that ?

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