Pimm's Cup

The Pimm’s Cup is the drink of an English summer. Pimm’s No.1 over ice in a tall glass, topped with lemonade, with cucumber and lemon in the glass. It turns up at Wimbledon, at Henley, and at every garden party between May and September, and it has held that position for well over a century without needing to change.

Pimm’s No.1 is a gin-based liqueur that James Pimm began serving at his London oyster bar in the 1840s, originally as a digestive tonic. It is bottled at 25 percent alcohol, which is roughly half the strength of gin, and it tastes of citrus peel, caramel and a faint quinine bitterness underneath. That low proof is the reason the Pimm’s Cup works the way it does. You can drink two over a long afternoon without much consequence, which is not true of most tall drinks built on a full-strength spirit.

There is a translation problem in most versions of this recipe. British lemonade is a clear, sweet, carbonated lemon drink, closer to Sprite or 7-Up than to the cloudy homemade lemonade an American would picture. When a recipe says to top a Pimm’s Cup with lemonade, a lemon-lime soda is exactly what it means, so 7-Up is the correct call rather than a substitution.

The cucumber is not decoration. Pimm’s has a vegetal, faintly herbal quality that cucumber picks up and extends, and the drink tastes noticeably flatter without it. Traditional service piles on more than this recipe calls for, usually strawberry, orange slice and a sprig of mint alongside the cucumber, all of it sitting in the glass rather than perched on the rim.

Glass: Highball glass | Strength: Light | Serves: 1 | Prep Time: 3 minutes

Bartender’s tip: The ratio is what matters, and it is one part Pimm’s to three parts soda. Any weaker and the drink turns into sweet fizz, any stronger and the caramel notes get heavy. Fill the glass with ice first and fill it properly, because a half-empty glass of ice will dilute faster than a full one. Run the lemon peel around the rim before you drop it in.