Adventures with Pimm's: South of Wimbledon Cocktail

This being a remarkably hot stretch in DC, I have found myself (and company) wanting cocktails on the light and refreshing side.  Thus, I have revisited Pimm's.  However, I was looking for something a bit punchier than a standard Pimm's Cup and perhaps a bit more complex.  I have found tequila to work well with herbal/savory drinks so with that in mind I designed the Cocktail, South of Wimbledon.

Ingredients
1 ounce of blanco tequila
1 ounce of Pimm's
.5 ounce of lemon juice
3 ounces of ginger ale

Directions

Shake tequila, Pimm's, and lemon juice and strain into a tall glass with ice.  Top with ginger ale and garnish with a cucumber spear and lemon peal.

Outcome

The South of Wimbledon Cocktail turned out very nice.  Two days after first making one, my wife requested one of her own, always a good sign.  I also gave it to a few guests at a small gathering we had and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  As for the flavor, this is a drink lacking a dominant flavor, though the lemon probably cuts through more than anything else.  The Pimm's adds sweetness but not so much as to overwhelm the other flavors.  I thought that the tequila and the cucumber made for a nice background for the drink.  I think that this is very much a warm weather beverage and a pretty light one at that.  Even though it wasn't too sweet, the sugar in the ginger ale and Pimm's combined with the relatively low alcohol content was such such that I don't think this is a particularly good vehicle towards a serious buzz but rather a way to cool off with something interesting.  It was a fair amount of work to put together with the pealing of a cucumber and the juicing of the lemon, but made in bulk, it was manageable.

Explorations of a Stubborn Spirit: Beyond the Pimm's Cup

Certain spirits are inherently tied to a specific cocktail and lack a whole lot of ink on what else to do with them.  For instance, you aren't going to find a lot of recipes for pisco beyond the Pisco Sour.  Pimm's is kind of like that.  I like the spirit.  It has both sweet and savory elements and is more of a subtle than a powerful spirit.  I wanted to make something with it that was a bit boozier than the Pimm's Cup but maintained the sweet/herbal balance.  I've tried doing so before with very mixed results, including a cocktail that thanks to some celery bitters, ended up tasting like a Bloody Mary.

Pimm's Sipper

Ingredients
2 ounces of old Tom gin (Ransom)
0.5 ounce of Pimm's
0.5 ounce of dry vermouth (Nolly Prat)
0.75 ounce of lemon juice

Directions
Shake ingredients with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon peal.

Taste (flavor, balance, and clarity):  6.5
This drink hammers the savory notes with the Old Tom Gin being the dominant flavor but the vermouth adding some bitterness.  It does not feel as balanced as I might like but picks a direction and goes with it in a fairly coherent manner.  It's pretty strong as a general matter but the flavors seem to complement each other.  I actually enjoyed it a bit more as I drank it after a first swallow that was kind of startling.

Versatility (when and for whom the drink works):  6

I would classify this drink as "challenging" much as I would a Negroni so I'm not sure how many people would enjoy it.  On the plus side, I think it works in a lot of settings and is not strictly a patio drink like the Pimm's Cup.

Hassle (cost and time):  8

This drink is not a lot of trouble to make beyond squeezing some lemon juice.  The old tom gin, which I think is essential given its much more herbal flavor than London dry gin, is pretty pricey but the other ingredients are cheap.

Overall:  6.5

I'm not sure what to make of this drink.  It was pretty challenging but I like the intense and multifaceted herbal flavors.  I think the lemon was also important (I tried making it as a martini without the lemon but it tasted muddled).

Potential Improvements

I might try using sweet as opposed to dry vermouth which could make it more accessible.  Using lemon bitters might work as well.

Let's Pretend It's Not Winter. Pimm's Cocktail!

This winter has been dragging on forever, though snow has given way to cold rain in basement-flooding amounts.  In an effort to make believe it is Spring, I purchased some Pimm's No. 1 and made Pimm's Cups.  For my wife, I made what I think is a pretty standard Pimm's Cup with 1.5 oz of Pimms, a squirt of lemon juice, a cucumber spear, and ginger ale, served in a large glass with ice cubes. For mine, I added a bit of gin, but the idea was similar.

Ingredients

• 1.5 ounce Pimm's No. 1
• .5 ounce of gin (Beefeater)
• squirt from lemon wedge (with remaining wedge in drink)
• cucumber spear
• 3-4 ounces of ginger ale

Directions:  Mix ingredients in large glass full of ice cubes and stir

Taste (flavor, balance, and clarity):  8
This drink taste as refreshing as any alcoholic beverage you will find.  The cucumber note gets stronger the longer you savor the drink.  If anything the gin is a distraction, and perhaps there is something to the original recipe.

Versatility (when and for who the drinks works):  6
This is clearly a warm weather beverage, my spring fantasy notwithstanding, and is best enjoyed outside.  I think a number of people would like this drink, though some dudes might blanch that it is pretty weak on the alcohol, even with the gin.

Hassle (cost and time):  7
The Pimm's Cup is pretty cheap to make, particularly if you end up not wasting the rest of the cucumber.  Although it doesn't take long to make, I don't tend to stay stocked in cucumbers, so some planning is necessary.

Overall: 7
This is an incredibly refreshing drink - one of the few alcoholic beverages of any kind that taste good enough that I'd have with no alcohol.  Although it's best and highest use might be to sip while reading on a hammock on an early summer day.  This drink is also a nice change of pace from some of the very boozy classic cocktails.

Potential Improvements:
I might play up the fresh tastes by adding a but of celery bitters and perhaps a dab of honey.  I've seen variants of this drink with grapefruit as well.