Homage to Mad Men – The Gimlet Cocktail

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Mad Men is back on April 7th, with a two hour special, none the less. I’m sure this is a widely known fact at this stage..but it’s appropriate to be excited now, it’s only a week away. I, like so many, many others love Mad Men, so naturally I’m more than excited to see what happens next. I also love cocktails (who doesn’t?) so I’m paying homage to the men of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and of course the gorgeous leading ladies in the form of an old fashioned cocktail.

There has been a lot of sophisticated cocktail imbibing throughout the last few seasons of Mad Men. As a sucker for something bitter and tart, I chose to rustle up a gimlet, a cocktail favoured by Betty (Draper) Francis. Now I’m pretty sure the stunning Grace Kelly-esque (yet forever cold) beauty takes her gimlet with vodka. But the more citrus ingredients the better I say, so gin is the way to go. Something like Bombay Sapphire or Tanqueray are perfect – the former is made with lemon and the latter with rangur limes; a name which is misleading, as rangur limes are citrus fruits but bear no resemblance to the tangy green fruit.

This simple recipe makes two ‘martini glass’ sized drinks. I plan on drinking these for the premiere, and might try out some other Mad Men cocktails before that..a cocktail or two can be something very therapeutic, right? While these cocktails are refreshing and punchy,  juicing the limes can be tedious. If you’re making these for friends, or plan on making a large pitcher (no one is judging!) I would suggest buying bottles of fresh lime juice from Marks & Spencer or anywhere else you can get your hands on it.

 

You will need a cocktail shaker, or you could use a little food processor (like me!) to whizz your ingredients together.

Ingredients

3 limes
70ml gin (or vodka, if you prefer)
100ml soda water
4 cubes of ice

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Squeeze your limes…while enjoying the intoxicating scent in your kitchen/bar.

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Toss your lime juice, gin, ice and soda water into your shaker/processor

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Shake/blitz for about 40 seconds. You’ll see the lovely (noisy) foamy fizz that sits on the top afterward, when it’s ready to drink.

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Serve in a chilled cocktail glass. If you/your guests aren’t too fond of bitter flavours, toss in 3 strawberries or 2 chunks of melon (processor) or add 50ml apple juice to a cocktail shaker to counteract the bitterness a little.

And if you find yourself with a hangover the next morning…(although, who could with all that vitamin C?)

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Wouldn’t this be the most perfect cure?

♥ ♥ ♥