Gimlet

The Long Good-Bye, Raymond Chandler, 1953

1½ oz. gin

½ oz. fresh lime juice

1 lime twist, for garnish

Place the gin and lime juice in a cocktail shaker, fill it two-thirds of the way with ice, and shake until chilled.

Strain into a cocktail glass, garnish with the lime twist, and enjoy.

We sat in a corner of the bar at Victor’s and drank gimlets.

“They don't know how to make them here,” he said. “What they call a gimlet is just some lime or lemon juice and gin with a dash of sugar and bitters. A real gimlet is half gin and half Rose’s Lime Juice and nothing else. It beats martinis hollow.”

Another novel featuring Chandler’s beloved private eye, Philip Marlowe. Marlowe befriends a man named Terry Lennox and the two enjoy spending time in a Los Angeles nightclub, drinking Gimlets. Later, Lennox flees to Mexico and his wife turns up dead, and that’s just the beginning of Marlowe’s troubles!

Before the adventure begins, the two enjoy drinking and bantering, and Lennox insists that their local can’t make a proper Gimlet, which is simpler than what they’re drinking. Indeed, modern recipes for the Gimlet often add simple syrup into the mix, but you might want to try Lennox’s version, if you can.

The Gimlet seems to have been introduced in the British Navy in the later eighteenth century and was useful for preventing scurvy among sailors. At least, that was the excuse of those who imbibed.