French Gin Rickey

I know it's November and we're supposed to put away our gin and ice cubes, but I had a stressful day today and it was dark and gray outside, and what I really wanted was something sweet and fizzy. This drink doesn't have a clever name, and it's just about as basic as it gets. Traditionally, a Gin Rickey is just gin, lime juice, and club soda, like a gin & tonic with no tonic. But if you went into an old-timey soda fountain, if you were lucky enough to be able to go into an old-timey soda fountain, and you ordered a Lime Rickey, you'd get something with lime juice, syrup, and seltzer, and no gin. So, I think for that reason, a lot of people make a Gin Rickey with sugar in it, even if it's not the original formula. I myself find the gin & soda version a little flat, and the times I've had it, I felt like I wished the soda was tonic.

You could probably make this with any number of things for the syrup, like simple syrup, Cointreau, grenadine, or any other kind of flavored syrup or sweet liqueur. Elderflower always tastes cheerful to me, and as I said, I was looking for a mood-lifter.

2 oz gin (a London dry style stands up well to the syrup)
1 oz lime juice
1 oz elderflower syrup or St Germain liqueur

Shake well with ice and strain into a highball glass with fresh ice. Top with club soda and throw a hunk of squeezed lime shell in the glass.

Note: I like St Germain. But it's expensive, and I'm cheap. I like to buy the elderflower syrup from IKEA to use in cocktails that call for St Germain. It's cheap and it tastes great.