The Gimlet

This is a little embarrassing to admit, but sometimes I get the idea that I just don’t like something about a cocktail, and I will never try one. I’ve never had a martini (shocking, I know), for instance, just because I have the idea that I won’t like it (why, I have no clue—gin, I like, dry vermouth, sure, so what’s the problem?). I don’t like olives, so I think that’s where my skepticism of the martini lies, but I am tempted to try one with a lemon twist rather than olive juice. I’ll keep you posted on that front, but another drink I’ve thought I won’t like is the gimlet. Once again, no idea why. It could be because I think Rose’s Lime is a weird color. Anyway, a few years ago, Darci tried to get a gimlet at a bar here, and the bartender had no clue how to make one. We sent the server back with a recipe, and the horribleness that came back was enough to turn us both off of gimlets for awhile. I’ve had a revelation, though, thanks to an article by Troy Patterson over on Slate. You should pop over to that site and check out the article; it was very informative and piqued my interest in the gimlet.

I try to keep my bar well-stocked, so I tend to buy lots of little add-ons that I might use in the future. Rose's Lime Juice is one of these things, so I've owned a bottle for probably two years now. It has never been opened, due to the previously-mentioned blah feeling I had about gimlets. After reading the Slate article, I knew what drink I would be making that evening. I came home and mixed up a glass, not using the Raymond Chandler recipe (half gin and half Rose's Lime and nothing else), but instead the recipe off the Rose's Lime bottle. I threw in some orange bitters and wow! I plan on knocking more than a few of these back, at least until I run out of Rose's Lime. The ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz gin (I went cheap cheap cheap and used Trader Joe's Jail-House Gin, which is actually quite tasty)
• 1 oz Rose's Lime Juice
• 2 dashes Bittercube Orange Bitters

In an old-fashioned glass, add ice, then gin, Rose's Lime Juice, and the bitters. Stir well and add a slide of lime to garnish.

I was completely blown away by how tasty this gimlet is. It's refreshing and is very simple to make, two things I appreciate. Most of the cocktail blogs or recipe sites I saw are pro-Rose's and anti-fresh lime juice in the gimlet, although I bet they'd be really tasty if you made your own version of Rose's Lime (I think you could mix 1 part 1:1 simple syrup and 1 part lime juice to make a reasonable facsimile, but I'm sure someone else has already done this and has posted about it somewhere on the Internet). Anyway, read that Slate article, check out some other recipes, and mix up your own version of the gimlet.

The Bronx Cocktail and the Income Tax Cocktail

I recently bought a set of four Thin Man movies. For those of you who aren't familiar with the film series, just know that the first one was released in 1934, is based around a detective (Nick Charles) and his wife (Nora), and includes a LOT of references to drinking. I highly recommend it--it's an excellent cocktail movie. Anyway, at one point, Nick Charles is at a bar, talking to some bartenders while he orders a Martini. He instructs the barkeeps, "The important thing is the rhythm. Always have rhythm in your shaking. Now, a Manhattan you shake to fox-trot time, a Bronx to two-step time, a dry martini you always shake to waltz time." I'd heard of a Bronx cocktail before (I love a Manhattan), so I decided to mix up a few of these. 

There are a couple of theories about who came up with the Bronx. Some people think Joseph Sormani created it in Philadelphia around 1905. Other sources credit Johnnie Solon (a bartender in Manhattan), sometime around 1899-1906. Check out the Wikipedia page about this cocktail out; the Solon theory has an entertaining creation story.

I generally don't trust the cocktail recipes on Wikipedia, so I hit the cocktail books and found this in Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. It was filed under a different drink, the Income Tax. One of my favorite things about cocktails is the history of the cocktail or how cocktails relate to each other. For example, the Manhattan (sweet vermouth and bourbon) became the Martinez (sweet vermouth and gin) became the Martini (dry vermouth and gin)...I just find this incredibly interesting (this is an excellent story about just this genealogy). From the standpoint of a very amateur barman, these connections make it easier to add drinks to my "memorized cocktail" list, just by slight adjustments. The Income Tax is just a Bronx, but with two dashes of Angostura bitters. 

The Bronx

• 1 1/2 oz gin (I used Gordon's)
• 3/4 oz sweet vermouth
• 3/4 oz dry vermouth
• Juice of 1/4 orange, freshly squeezed (This is obviously really vague. I used 1/3 of an oz.)

The Income Tax

• 1 1/2 oz gin 
• 3/4 oz sweet vermouth
• 3/4 oz dry vermouth
• Juice of 1/4 orange, freshly squeezed
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

I quite liked both of these drinks. I would call the Bronx a citrus-y cousin to the Manhattan--the orange mellows the booze a little, but it is still pretty strong. As for the Income Tax, the bitters add a little sophistication and a lot of depth to the drink. These are ingredients that are pretty common, so you probably already have everything to make them, so that's a nice bonus that rarely happens.