The Gimlet is a pretty simple drink that uses easy-to-find, off-the-shelf ingredients.

The Gimlet Recipe

To make the simple Gimlet, all you do is mix two ingredients:

• 2 oz. gin
• 0.75 oz. Rose’s lime juice

and shake them really well with ice. Then pour into an Old Fashioned glass or something similar and add a lime slice. It’s very simple–too simple, in fact. Never having tried one, I was skeptical. It sounded too much like adding a liquor to a mixer, a sure-fire way to make a mediocre cocktail.

But it’s good, and quite refreshing. I could down a few of these without realizing how many I had drunk. The lime flavor is prominent but it isn’t that strong because of the pre-mixed Rose’s. It would be a very different drink with fresh lime juice, and there is a lot of debate about whether one should use fresh lime and simple syrup instead of the Rose’s. For me, the amount of sugar in the Rose’s is just right. And it makes it simple, too. In general, I don’t go for simple (to my wife’s dismay) only because it doesn’t taste good. But if something can be simple and also taste good, then I’m all for it.

For me, the best thing about the Gimlet is its name. It is most likely an early 20th century drink made for the Royal Navy to give them vitamin C. But the name itself conjures up the roaring 20s or the 40s. I feel as if I should don my fedora and sit at my own bar and enjoy a Gimlet.

And, heck, why not?