I love the story of this cocktail, because it harkens back to the early days of bartending. Used to be if you as a bartender wanted grenadine, you had to make grenadine. Under those conditions you could either try to be ready for anything or you could create a real specialty of the house. That is exactly what Mr. Pimm did and his infusion lives on to this day.
James Pimm opened his first oyster bar in London in 1823. He grew to have five restaurants and created the infusion to serve to his patrons. Pimm served his original concoction turned cocktail served in a small tankard known as a No.1 Cup hence the name. His homemade concoction grew into a distilling company of its own. The No. 1 was so popular that in 1851 No. 2, brandy based and No. 3 Scotch based. Ownership after Pimm’s death grew a chain of Pimm’s oyster bars throughout the U.K. that kept his name and cocktail mix alive and thriving. After WWII the No. 4 was released and followed by rye in No. 5 and vodka in No. 6 in the 1950’s. Pimm’s hit hard times in the 1970’s and 80’s when the world was turning its back on proper made cocktails. All but the No. 1 were eliminated from production, but like all things cocktail, Pimm’s is seeing a resurgence. Today, they are producing No. 1, No. 3, and No. 6 plus fruit flavor variants and premixed cocktails.
Down south we still got a lot of calls for this one, and why not. It is a basic sling cocktail and naturally low in alcohol, and cucumber just speak of summertime. I cannot find a standard but I have worked in places where we served these with crushed ice, so think of this as an option on Kentucky Derby Day when crushed ice abounds. Sometimes the mint julep is jarring to those who do not normally drink whiskey.
Ingredients
2 oz. Pimm’s No. 1
1/2 oz. Lemon Juice
1/4 Simple Syrup
3 oz Ginger Ale
Garnish
Lemon Wedge and a disk of cucumber.
Glassware
12 oz tumbler
Assembly
Fill a shaker with crushed ice. Measure lemon juice, Simple Syrup, Pimm’s No. 1 and add to shaker. Shake until cold and pour the entire contents into the glass. Top with ginger ale.
Suggestions
So for years, I was muddling cucumber because at my first bartender job we did but I cannot find a single recipe that does. In talking to bartenders down south most make them the same way. Turns out that what we had been making for years was a Pimp Cup, but if it is summertime and you have fresh cucumber why just use it as a garnish?