Cocktail recipe
Gimlet
Gin and lime distilled to their sharpest, simplest argument.
Ingredients
- 60 ml (2 oz) London dry gin
- 22.5 ml (¾ oz) fresh lime juice
- 15 ml (½ oz) simple syrup (1:1)
- Garnish: 1 lime wheel
Preparation
Shake gin, freshly squeezed lime and syrup with solid ice until thoroughly chilled. Fine-strain into a frosted coupe and float a thin lime wheel. The lime must feel electric; do not drown it in sugar.
Glassware
Chilled coupe
History
The Gimlet is closely tied to Britain's naval culture and the rise of preserved lime juice. Lauchlin Rose patented a method of preserving lime juice in the 1860s, and Rose's lime cordial became a practical ingredient in a world of long voyages and shipboard rations. The drink's name is often attributed to Royal Navy surgeon Sir Thomas Desmond Gimlette, but that inventor story is not established by contemporary proof; an alternative explanation invokes the gimlet boring tool. Harry MacElhone's *ABC of Mixing Cocktails* (1922) includes a gin-and-lime-cordial Gimlet, while Raymond Chandler's *The Long Goodbye* later helped fix its cultural image. A fresh-lime sour is a modern interpretation, not the original cordial build.
Mixology View
We publish two truths together: the historical Gimlet was fundamentally a gin-and-lime-cordial drink, while our brighter fresh-lime house version is a contemporary choice. Neither should masquerade as the other.