Drink · 3 min · 1 coupe
Gimlet
Gin, fresh lime, sugar. Cordial makes it a different and worse drink, and shaking rather than stirring is correct here.
The sheet · 1 coupe · 3 min
easyWhy tonight. Gin, fresh lime, sugar. Cordial makes it a different and worse drink, and shaking rather than stirring is correct here.
What it needs
Nothing confirmed on your shelf yet — this list is the whole ask.
- gin
- lime
- simple syrup
Method
- 2 oz gin, ¾ oz lime juice, ¾ oz simple syrup. Shake hard with ice until the tin frosts.
- Double-strain into a cold glass. No garnish needed and no ice in the glass.
- Fresh lime only. Bottled cordial is a different, sweeter, older drink and it is worth knowing which one you are making.
- If it tastes thin, add sugar rather than gin — a sour that is out of balance is nearly always short of sweet, not short of spirit.
An educational pour, not a reprint of a licensed spec. No allergen or alcohol-safety claim.
Cook or pour it, then edit the shelf if you emptied a bottle or used the last of something.
Why each of these is on the list
What the ingredients are actually doing
- gin
- Botanicals over a neutral base, and every bottle draws its own map — juniper-forward gin makes a bracing drink, a softer modern one makes a floral one.
- lime
- Sharper and more floral than lemon, and it fades faster — juice it the same hour you use it.
- simple syrup
- Sugar already dissolved, which is the only form of sugar that works in a cold drink.
Missing one of them? The substitutions are written against those jobs rather than against a chart, so they say what each replacement costs this dish in particular.
Cooks from the same box
If you bought for this, you can already make these
Shares gin, lime, simple syrup
Basil gimlet
Clap the basil, don't shred it khaki. A gimlet that went through the garden.
Shares gin, lime, simple syrup
Southside
A gin sour with mint in it, sometimes called a Mojito's dry cousin. Slap the mint rather than muddling it to pulp.
Shares gin, lime, simple syrup
Ramos gin fizz
Gin, both citruses, cream, egg white and soda, shaken for a genuinely long time. The twelve-minute shake is folklore; two hard minutes is real.
Shares gin, lime
Gin cranberry
Gin and cranberry with lime, which is drier and more interesting than the vodka version because the botanicals have something to argue with.
Next
Cook it, then tell the shelf what you used.
The ranking is only as honest as the shelf behind it. Empty the cream, and everything that leaned on cream should stop being offered.