My pal Joel was over from Philadelphia with his wife Anne, and among his other British adventures he tried to order a gimlet in a pub, actually two pubs, one in Scotland one in London
He reports on Facebook:
‘ A pint and a vodka gimlet:
- Islay and Kilmartin: 6 pounds 50p, and taught bartender how to make gimlet.
- London: 13 pounds, 40p and bartender didn't know gimlet either, had no lime syrup or even sugar, settled for vodka tonic.
Thank you for attending my Ted Talk.’
I can’t say this lack of knowledge altogether surprises me - ignorance seldom does - though most bars used to be able to provide you with a lager and lime – lager with a splash of lime cordial, which might or might not be Rose’s. It was how some of us learned to drink before we developed a taste for bitter.
Anyway thinking on this and digging around in the archive I discover I have quite a lot of gimlet–related material, some of which I’ve used before in this blog, but there’s still quite a bit that I haven’t.
Much of it, I think, makes the gimlet seem rather more exciting than it ever is, than most drinks could ever be.