Gimlet
“A real gimlet is half gin and half Rose’s Lime Juice and nothing else,” declares dissolute playboy Terry Lennox in Raymond Chandler’s novel The Long Goodbye. “It beats martinis hollow.” I’m inclined to agree with that last part-and though the one-to-one ratio might be a little sweet for some tastes, the simple elegance of the traditional gimlet recipe can’t be topped. Like Chandler’s prose, it’s spare but packs a wallop. Gimlets first became popular in the 1920s, before Philip Marlowe was even old enough to order one.The wizened private dick drank plenty of them over the course of twenty years and seven novels-and not one of them contained vodka or (God forbid) tequila. But it’s the citrus that really makes the drink. As Marlowe himself observed: “The bartender set the drink in front of me. With the lime juice it has a sort of pale greenish yellowish misty look. I tasted it. It was both sweet and sharp at the same time.”
Damn straight.
Ingredients
2 ounces gin
1 ounce Rose’s Lime Juice
Lime wedge
Preparation
Mix the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the lime wedge.
