Sips & Synopsis

• This Weeks Makings

• Trivia Question

• Drink of the Week - The Pimm's Cup

• The Garnish That Makes the Drink

• Bonus Cocktails

• Mocktail Moment - No-Proof Pimm's Cup

This Weeks Makings.

Wimbledon starts Monday.

Which means it is the official start of the season I look forward to all year: summer is the season of slow, long drinks with fruit poking out of the top.

This week I am pouring the cocktail that started it all. The Pimm's Cup is older than the tournament. Older than most of the cocktails on any modern bar menu. James Pimm invented it in 1840 at his London oyster bar, and the British have been getting it right ever since.

Most Americans get it wrong. Too much soda water. No fruit. A sad lemon wedge. The proper version is built like a garden. Cucumber, strawberries, orange, mint, all piled in. You drink it slowly. You eat the fruit at the end.

Pour it for the start of Wimbledon weekend. Then pour it again all summer.

In this issue:

• A Drink of the Week that takes more fruit than you think

• Why the garnish is half the cocktail (and how to build the rest)

• Two bonus cocktails for guests who do not want Pimm's

• A zero-proof version with the whole garden, no proof needed

Trivia Question ❓

True or False: During the two weeks of the Wimbledon Championships, more than 300,000 glasses of Pimm's Cup are sold to spectators.

Answer at the bottom of the newsletter

The Pimm's Cup

Pimm's, lemonade, and a garden in a glass. The drink Wimbledon was built around.

Ingredients

• 2 oz Pimm's No. 1

• 4 to 5 oz traditional English-style lemonade (or a 50/50 mix of soda water and lemonade) Note: British lemonade is just lemons and sugar in carbonated water - it’s a little closer to sprite than the USA flat lemonade.

• Cucumber spear and 3 slices

• 2 strawberries, halved

• 1 orange wheel

• A small handful of fresh mint

• Borage flowers if you can find them

Directions

1. Fill a tall glass (a highball or collins) with ice

2. Add the Pimm's

3. Top with lemonade (or the soda-lemonade mix)

4. Layer in the cucumber, strawberries, orange, and mint

5. Give it one gentle stir and let it sit for a minute so the fruit starts to do its work

6. Drink slowly and steal the fruit at the end

Why It Works

Pimm's is gin-based but rounded out with a secret blend of herbs and citrus. On its own it tastes like a bitter-orange amaro. With lemonade and a stack of fresh fruit, it becomes the most refreshing low-proof cocktail in the English-speaking world. The British have been drinking it like this since 1840. They know what they are doing.

Behind the Bar - The Garnish That Makes the Drink

Most cocktails treat garnishes as decoration. A Pimm's Cup treats them as ingredients.

That is the whole secret. The cucumber is not for the photo. It actually flavors the drink. The strawberry releases sugar as it sits. The mint perfumes every sip. By the time you finish, you have eaten as much as you have drunk.

The rule of thumb for garnishes that earn their place:

• If it does not change how the drink tastes, it does not belong

• Big, sturdy garnishes (cucumber spears, strawberry halves) infuse slowly and survive a long drink

• Fresh herbs need a slap before they go in. Clap them between your hands to release the oils

• Citrus peels should be expressed over the drink. Twist, then drop in

A note about borage. The traditional Pimm's Cup garnish is borage, a star-shaped blue flower that tastes faintly of cucumber. If you find it at a farmer's market, grab it. If you don't, a long cucumber spear does most of the same work.

A few tools that turn garnishes into ingredients:

• A small Y-shaped vegetable peeler for thin, long cucumber ribbons that drape over the rim

• A channel knife for clean citrus twists with the right amount of pith

• Long collins glasses so you have room to build a proper garden inside

A Pimm's Cup with a sad lemon wheel and nothing else is not a Pimm's Cup. It is a sad glass of soda. Build it like you mean it.

Bonus Cocktails

Hugo Spritz

The European summer drink that finally caught on stateside. Light, floral, easy.

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz St-Germain elderflower liqueur

• 3 oz prosecco

• 1 oz soda water

• 0.5 oz fresh lime juice

• 4 to 6 fresh mint leaves

• Lime wheel and mint sprig to garnish

Directions

Add St-Germain, lime juice, and mint leaves to a wine glass and gently muddle. Fill with ice. Add prosecco first, then soda water. Stir once. Garnish with a lime wheel and a fresh mint sprig.

Why it works

Elderflower is the secret weapon of summer cocktails. It tastes like a flower garden in the late afternoon. The prosecco brings bubbles, the mint brings cool, the lime brings just enough edge to keep it from being sweet.

Garibaldi

Two ingredients. The right technique. Italy in a glass.

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Campari

• 4 oz freshly juiced orange juice (not from a bottle)

• Orange wheel to garnish

Directions

Fresh-juice the orange just before serving (a centrifugal juicer creates the signature foamy "fluffy" texture this drink is famous for, but a hand juicer works in a pinch). Pour Campari over ice in a tall glass. Top with the foamy orange juice. Stir gently. Garnish with an orange wheel.

Why it works

Campari and orange juice should not be this good together. They are. The frothy texture from fresh-juicing the orange is the whole trick. Skip the bottled juice and you lose the magic.

Mocktail or Zero Proof Option

No-Proof Pimm's Cup

All the garden. None of the proof.

Ingredients

• 2 oz strong-brewed black tea (steep one bag in 3 oz hot water for 5 minutes, then cool)

• 0.5 oz fresh lemon juice

• 0.5 oz simple syrup

• 3 oz traditional English-style lemonade (or lemon-lime soda)

• 3 cucumber slices, 2 strawberry slices, 1 orange wheel, fresh mint

• Soda water to top

Directions

In a tall glass, combine the cooled tea, lemon juice, and simple syrup. Add ice. Layer in cucumber, strawberry, orange, and mint. Top with lemonade and a splash of soda water. Stir gently. Drink with one of those long straws that lets you steal the fruit at the end.