Why Your Gimlet Ought to Be Served on the Rocks

As a Martini agnostic, I’ve at all times been jealous of the specificity with which followers of the basic gin drink get to order: soiled, filthy, dry, twist, olive, gin, vodka, and so forth. However as somebody who prefers candy and bitter flavors, I met my good match on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, at Lengthy Island Bar. 

Enter: the Gimlet on the rocks. 

The Gimlet is the right cocktail. It is tart, candy, refreshing, quenching, and presents a boozier kick than, say, a spritz. Whereas nearly all of Gimlets are made with gin, easy syrup, and recent lime juice, many dive bars nonetheless combine it up the normal means utilizing sweet-and-sticky Rose’s Lime Cordial. There’s definitely a time and place for Rose’s, however the tart punch of freshly squeezed lime juice is what introduced the cocktail again to the mainstream for a brand new technology of drinkers.

At Lengthy Island Bar, bartender Toby Cecchini nods to Rose’s historical past by crafting a housemade lime-ginger cordial. It presents only a contact of warming ginger with loads of citrus taste from a mixture of ginger juice and an oleo saccharum created from lime peels and sugar. Cecchini’s Gimlet is scrumptious, however what actually units it aside is that it’s served in a rocks glass, over ice. 

Gimlets are historically served up, or shaken with ice then strained right into a cocktail glass. Whereas the drink seems nice in fancy stemware, it’s not the most suitable choice for the cocktail. What’s, is a brief rocks glass stuffed with ice. 

I’ve ordered dozens of Gimlets on the rocks, and the interpretation is at all times totally different, even all through New York Metropolis. Some serve the drink in a tall Collins glass with a straw, others in my most popular basic rocks glass. My favourite presentation was on the lauded TriBeCa restaurant, The Odeon, the place it was served in a neat glass, or a brief glass someplace in between a shot glass and a rocks glass, with two or three ice cubes.

A Gimlet served on the rocks is not only fussy for fussiness sake. It’s good for a number of causes. Ice ensures the lime juice stays tart, chilled, and refreshing, relatively than rising tepid over time, significantly in the summertime. Rocks glasses are additionally much less liable to spillage when navigating by a crowded bar. Ice additionally helps to elongate the drink, making it last more — a lot wanted when a cocktail can price $20+ in NYC. 

Nonetheless, purists could disagree. Can a Gimlet served on the rocks nonetheless be known as a Gimlet? “The origins of the Gimlet go thus far again that the right option to make this drink has been debated through the years,” says Simon Ford, founding father of Fords Gin. “They’re each a Gimlet, and for this drink, the glass may differ considerably and it’d nonetheless be a Gimlet.”

Others disagree. Stanislav Harcinik, of Mirror Bar in Bratislava, Slovakia, thinks a basic cocktail shouldn’t stray from the unique recipe — and this contains the glassware. He describes my most popular drink as a one made within the type of a Gimlet. 

“If we need to characterize a basic cocktail with its unique title, we should always at all times keep on with the unique and recognized recipe as a lot as attainable,” says Harcinik. “I usually discover that friends order one thing they know or they’ve a passion for a particular basic.”

Ford likens the Gimlet to a Margarita, during which the drink may be faithfully served interchangeably between a rocks glass, a Martini glass, or perhaps a pint glass stuffed with ice. The service of the drink is tailor-made to the bar, restaurant, or buyer, however there’s little question that the drink remains to be a Margarita. 

I like my Gimlet on the rocks, and received’t hear in any other case. Serve it in a brief glass with only a few ice cubes, make it further chilly so it doesn’t dilute too rapidly, use good gin, and sip typically.