Aviation
45 ml Gin, 15 ml Maraschino liqueur, 15 ml Lemon juice, 7.5 ml Crème de violette, 1 Maraschino cherry
Photo: Pimms No 1 Cup - close by Dinner Series · CC BY 2.0 · All credits
Ingredients
Measures below are multiplied for 12 drinks. Unmeasurable amounts such as “a splash” are left as written.
- 600 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 600 ml line. Pimm's No. 1 - Pimm's No. 1 - the gin-based fruit cup
- 1800 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 1800 ml line. Lemonade - Cloudy, proper lemonade - the fizzy sort, not squash
- 12 slices Cucumber
- 12 berries Strawberry
- 12 slices Orange
- 12 sprigs Mint sprig
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Pimm's over ice, lemonade on top, then everything in the salad drawer.
Method
Batch (12 drinks)Batch (12 drinks) - about 2.4 l of measured ingredients, before ice and dilution.
Timings and per-glass steps below are written for one drink and are not scaled. A full jug takes longer to chill, so stir or shake until it is properly cold rather than by the clock, and pour over fresh ice one glass at a time.
- Fill a highball glass with ice - plenty of it, this is a long drink.
- Pour in the Pimm's, then the lemonade.
- Stir gently once, so you keep the fizz.
- Tuck a slice of cucumber against the inside of the glass, then the strawberry, the orange and the mint.
Serve it
Volumes in this story are multiplied for the size above, along with the ingredients. Years, ratios and the capacities of glasses and jugs are left as written.
Pimm's Cup
Invented in 1823 by a London oyster bar owner called James Pimm, who sold a gin-based house cup as a digestive aid and accidentally gave Britain its summer. The fruit is not decoration: the drink is a fruit cup, and the cucumber in particular is what makes it taste like a Pimm's rather than like lemonade with something in it.
Getting it right
The proportion is one part Pimm's to three parts lemonade, and it is worth keeping to - at half and half the drink becomes syrupy and the fruit has nothing to swim in. Use a fizzy lemonade with some sharpness rather than a sweet one, and ice the glass properly: this is a long, cold drink and it goes flat and warm surprisingly quickly in sunshine. The cucumber should be a thinnish slice, pressed against the glass rather than dropped in, where it releases its smell every time you lift the drink.
Tasting notes
Sweet orange and bitter herbs from the Pimm's, a wave of fizz, and then cool cucumber and mint at the end. Barely tastes alcoholic, which is precisely the danger.
For a more grown-up version, use half lemonade and half ginger ale, or top it with sparkling wine and call it a Pimm's Royale.
More Gin cocktails
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50 ml Gin, 20 ml Lemon juice, 20 ml Honey syrup, 1 Lemon twist
Bramble
50 ml Gin, 25 ml Lemon juice, 12.5 ml Simple syrup, 15 ml Crème de mûre, 2 berries Blackberry