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Gimlet (English)

english-gimletA simple, classic cocktail - just gin (or vodka), lime, and sugar - the gimlet is one of the gems among classic cocktails, with a long history stretching from the high seas to Madison Avenue. Light green, lime-forward, and exquisite when well-balanced, this gin sour is equal parts refreshing and scurvy-preventing

Like every other classic cocktail, the gimlet comes with a handful of competing origin stories. The most credible is its creation, in the 1880s, at the hands of Royal Navy surgeon Sir Thomas Gimlette, who encouraged his mates to take their gin rations with a healthy dash of scurvy-preventing lime juice. Lauchlin Rose's lime juice cordial, invented just a decade earlier, helped make that possible, at the same time sweetening the drink and preserving the citrus.

As for its origins, you can think of the gimlet as a sweet gin rickey (without the soda water), or another in a long line of descendants of the sour, one of the main cocktail families. Originally a 50-50 mix of gin and lime cordial, modern preferences for drier (better balanced) drinks have seen the proportion of lime cordial track ever downward.

¾ oz simple syrup
1 lime, freshly zested
2 oz Plymouth Dry Gin or Tanqueray
¾ oz lime juice, freshly squeezed

Make the Simple Syrup:
Make a simple syrup with a 1:1 sugar and hot water ratio (see more here), steeping the lime zest in it for 10 minutes in a nonreactive container. Fine-strain this after 10 minutes, and refrigerate what you do not use today.

Combine the gin, simple syrup, and lime juice in a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake for about 30 seconds, or until a frost forms on the shaker.

Strain and serve:

Double strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.

Makes 1 cocktail.

Cook's Notes:

  • VARIATIONS: Most recipes vary the amount of lime cordial and gin. Older recipes had a 1:1 ratio of gin to lime cordial, but today, a more common ratio is 2:1, or two parts gin and one part lime cordial. Also, some recipes will call for the addition of lime juice, while others use a mixture of simple syrup and lime juice as a substitute for lime cordial.
  • HOMEMADE LIME CORDIAL: Although initially, a gimlet cocktail was made with Rose's lime cordial, most bartenders today avoid to use it because it has too many artificial ingredients. Instead, they opt to make a lime cordial from scratch. According to the lime cordial recipe from the YouTube channel, The Educated Barfly, you will need 3 cups simple syrup, a zest of 6 limes, 30 mL lime juice, ½ tsp. citric acid to make one. You combine the simple syrup and the zest and then mix them in a blender. Next, the mixture needs to be double strained into a bottle, and the lime juice and the citric acid is added. The bottle is then closed and shaken so the added ingredients can incorporate.
  • DRINKWARE: Gimlet is most commonly served in a cocktail or a coupe glass.
  • GARNISH: Traditionally, a gimlet does not have a garnish, but you will often find recipes that list a lime wedge, a lime wheel, or a lime peel to be used as a garnish.