Vodka, shaken
Vodka Gimlet
Barline 2,Q,h,c
The code is the shorthand off my printed menu; the Key tab decodes every letter.
- 2 oz Vodka
- 3/4 oz Lime juice
- 1/2 oz Simple syrup
Shake hard with ice, then strain.
Coupe.
Taste
Two ounces of vodka to three-quarters of lime and a half ounce of simple, the Gimlet's pour exactly. The lime is the flavor and the vodka is the cold and the length behind it. Shaken, coupe. Tart, thinly sweetened, short.
History
The Gimlet was gin and Rose's lime cordial, a navy drink that Harry MacElhone printed under the name in 1922 and that Raymond Chandler set loose in fiction, half gin and half Rose's, in The Long Goodbye in 1953. Vodka took the gin's slot as vodka took the American well; Difford's dates the substitution to the 1990s and the early 2000s and notes that gin has since taken the drink back. This menu pours the Gimlet's spec with the bottle changed: two ounces of vodka, three-quarters of fresh lime, a half ounce of simple, coupe.
Same shape, other bottles
The Sour family, with the bottle that changed.
- Daiquirilight rum for vodka
- Gimletgin for vodka
- Santiagolight rum and grenadine for vodka and simple syrup
- The Rum Drinklight rum for vodka
- Southsidegin for vodka
- Bee's Kneesgin and lemon juice for vodka and lime juice
This is one drink on my home bar's menu. Tick the bottles you own and the menu lists which of all 185 drinks they pour.