Gimlet
Ingredients
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- lime wheel – for garnish
- 2 cups ice
- 2 ounces gin
- 3/4 ounces lime cordial
Instructions
1. Chill a coupe or Nick & Nora glass by filling it with some of the ice; set aside.
2. Add the gin and lime cordial to a cocktail shaker.
3. Add the remaining ice and shake hard until very cold, 10–12 seconds.
4. Discard the ice from the glass, then double-strain the cocktail into the chilled glass.
5. Garnish with the lime wheel and serve immediately.
A gimlet is a crisp, bracing cocktail that pairs juniper-forward gin with the sweet-tart snap of lime cordial. The result is silky and aromatic, with a clean citrus finish that highlights the gin’s botanicals while keeping the profile tight and refreshing. Served up and ice-cold, it’s an easy-sipping classic with a luminous green hue and a perfectly balanced sweet-sour backbone.
Its roots trace to the British Royal Navy, where preserved lime juice helped ward off scurvy and was mixed with spirits for palatability. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, commercial lime cordial (notably Rose’s) made the combination of gin and cordial a staple both at sea and ashore. The gimlet entered bar canon as a simple, two-ingredient cocktail and has endured through decades of variations, including vodka versions and fresh-lime “sour” interpretations.