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<\/a>\nThat\u2019s Brandon\u2019s hand there, and actually, he\u2019s holding a gin and tonic, but it doesn\u2019t matter. The gesture is what counts. Long live Pimm\u2019s Cup! Cheers!<\/p>\n
I first tasted Pimm\u2019s<\/a> in its native city of London, where it came to the table in a pitcher, mixed with fizzy lemonade to a handsome shade of amber. There were slices of cucumber, lemon, and strawberry floating among the ice cubes, and a sprig of mint, and it was very hot outside, very hot, and after I drank a glass of it, I had one of the finest summer afternoons in memory. I cannot prove that the two events were causally related, but in my personal catalog of experiences, they\u2019re on the same page. I keep thinking that somehow, if I drink enough Pimm\u2019s, I\u2019ll wind up back in London, or in an episode of Jeeves and Wooster<\/a>, but I usually just wind up falling asleep early, fully clothed, forgetting to brush my teeth, in Seattle.<\/p>\n I get the sense that a lot of you have had Pimm\u2019s, but for those of you who haven\u2019t, it\u2019s a gin-based drink containing quinine – the substance that gives tonic water its bitter flavor – and various herbs, and probably a bunch of other ingredients, though the formula is a secret. It was made to serve as a digestif, but few drink it straight. On its own, it\u2019s quite intense, with a flavor that combines citrus and spice with a little burnt caramel. On its own, it tastes like Christmas, only bitter. It tastes like the Christmas when I was fifteen, when I had the flu and my mother gave me a plaid flannel dress and a belt made from recycled car tires and bottle caps, and I cried when she asked me to try it on. Needless to say, Pimm\u2019s is best mixed, if you ask me, and that\u2019s how it\u2019s most commonly served. Once mixed, it mellows considerably. It\u2019s bright, refreshing, embarrassingly easy to drink. The British mix it most often with what they call lemonade, though it\u2019s not the same thing as American lemonade; it\u2019s a clear, sparkling lemon soda, and it\u2019s sweet, but not too sweet. In the States, a decent substitute is 7-Up, or Sprite. It\u2019s also acceptable to mix it with ginger ale or ginger beer.<\/p>\n This to say that I\u2019ve been reading up on Pimm\u2019s, and doing my homework, and in the name of research, I\u2019ve made Pimm\u2019s cocktails six different ways in the past few weeks. I\u2019ve tried Pimm\u2019s with 7-Up, Reed\u2019s Original Ginger Brew, Reed\u2019s Premium Ginger Brew, Reed\u2019s Extra Ginger Brew, San Pellegrino Limonata, and, finally, a mixture of American lemonade and sparkling water. Whatever you mix it with, it\u2019s standard to use 1 part Pimm\u2019s to 3 parts mixer, and that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done. Plus slices of lemon and cucumber, and a slice of strawberry, and mint.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nExcept that I don\u2019t really care for that ginger ale up there, Reed\u2019s Extra Ginger Brew, in my Pimm\u2019s Cup. I meant to buy Reed\u2019s Original<\/span> Ginger Brew. Until I took that picture, I didn\u2019t realize that I had bought the wrong kind. In any case, Reed’s is a good grocery-store bet, but if you’re in Seattle and have access to Rachel’s Ginger Beer<\/a>, for god’s sake, use that. It’s the best.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nAt any rate, there are a lot of possibilities when it comes to making a Pimm\u2019s-based cocktail, and you can find many of them here<\/a>, or on the official Pimm\u2019s website<\/a>, which I\u2019m crazy for. To get into the site, on the page where you input your birth date, the \u201csubmit\u201d button doesn\u2019t just say \u201csubmit,\u201d but instead \u201cTally ho, IN we go!\u201d That\u2019s the spirit! Then, once you\u2019re in, the home page treats you to a video of a pitcher being filled – mysteriously, benevolently, from an unseen hand above – with ice, Pimm\u2019s, lemonade, and fruit, all of it splashing around and catching the sunlight in a relentlessly juicy way, so mesmerizing that I\u2019ve hit \u201creload\u201d on the Pimm\u2019s website six times since I started writing this sentence.<\/p>\n