A cocktail invented for your health!
A cocktail born not from luxury but out of necessity has an unmistakable beauty. Long before it became a mid-century darling of cocktail clubs, the gimlet was a matter of survival on the high seas.
In the 19th century, British Royal Navy sailors were plagued by scurvy, a painful affliction brought on by severe vitamin C deficiency. Officers did have a daily prescription for intensely sour lime juice but found it unpalatable. Enter surgeon Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Desmond Gimlette who suggested mixing the citrus with an officer’s daily ration of gin. To ensure the medicine went down smoothly, it was often sweetened with a bit of sugar, creating the first iteration of the cocktail we sip today. The drink takes its name from the clever doctor, but history also notes a parallel to the gimlet, a sharp boring tool used to pierce the wooden barrels that held spirits on ships.
Over the centuries, the libation evolved from a crude naval medicine to the marvel of easy execution bartenders serve today. The simplicity of a gimlet’s spirit, citrus, sweetness and nothing to hide behind rewards a good bar program. Atlanta has no shortage of those.
At Incognito Cocktail Bar on the Westside, the Incognito Gimlet leans playful without losing the bones of the original recipe with Condesa Gin, strawberry and Thai basil layered with lime. The result is a vibrant, ruby-hued elixir with jammy strawberry and anise notes of basil anchored by a clean citrus punch.
Flight Club’s Kiwi Gimlet takes a dramatic, silky turn. At the newly opened tech-enabled darts club, where high speed cameras automatically score your throws, Empress Cucumber Lemon Gin, lime juice, kiwi and egg white are shaken into something velvety. The gin provides a crisp, cooling baseline that plays naturally with tart kiwi and lime, and the egg addition takes it to cloudlike form, elevating the once naval ration to seaside luxury.
The gimlet’s lineage also stretches to two historic cousins: the Army & Navy and the Southside classic cocktails. The former trades limes for lemons and introduces orgeat, a rich almond syrup. The latter adds a cooling slap of mint.
At The Painted Duck, the bar resurrects the Army & Navy with precise reverence, shaking gin with housemade orgeat, fresh lemon juice and a few heavy dashes of Angostura bitters. The almond syrup gives a nutty sweetness under the tart lemon with the bittersweet spices of Angostura, providing a warming marzipan-kissed weight that feels right at home in the dimly lit, subterranean bowling parlor.
The Southside goes in another direction, adding mint that brings a gimlet into julep territory. This one you can easily crack open and pour at home because Atlanta based Post Meridiem offers a ready to drink version of the Southside packed into their signature tiny cans. The company’s take is a mint-laced gimlet that balances a backbone of crisp gin with the zestiness of real lemon and lime juices, smoothed out with cane sugar and a generous infusion of garden mint. It’s snappy, portable and fiercely refreshing.
Whether you seek the classic, a botanical twist or a canned companion for a porch sit or tailgate, the gimlet remains a testament to simplicity and ingenuity. So raise a glass to the good doctor, settle into your evening and rest easy knowing your next order will no doubt keep scurvy at bay.
FLIGHT CLUB
flightclubdartsusa.com
@flightclubdartsusa
INCOGNITO COCKTAIL BAR
incognito404.com
@bar_incognitoatl
POST MERIDIEM
postmeridiemspirits.com
@postmeridiemspirits
THE PAINTED DUCK
thepaintedduckatl.com
@paintedduckatl
