Last week while I was having lunch at the Clover Food Lab truck at South Station, I had one of the most delicious and refreshing drinks ever: basil limeade. The flavor was complex, but totally delicious. I was going try to recreate it at home, but then I decided that since I’ll be watching the latest episode of Mad Men on my DVR tonight, I’d need this little concoction to be of the alcoholic nature. I mean seriously folks, you can’t watch Mad Men without a cocktail. Don Draper with his rye cocktails would think less of you.
Gimlets are a classic, old-fashioned cocktail that I have a particular fondness of since my grandparents drank them. When my grandmother (Peppy as she was known to us grandkids) grew older she had some memory problems, she would forget that she ever had a gimlet before and order it as if it were this new invention. I believe her exact words were “A gimlet? No, I’ve never had one of those before…what is it?”. We’d all just giggle and explain what it was. And surprise, she liked it! 
So, I make this in honor of you, Peppy.
So here’s what I did for 1 drink:
In a cocktail shaker, muddle 3 basil leaves, add a few good glugs of vodka, a 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (or few dashes of Rose’s lime juice) and ice. Shake up the cocktail and pour into a martini glass. Garnish with a basil leaf.
Now we’re in cocktail heaven, people. This cocktail was light and refreshing and I’m loving the hint of basil. Give this classic cocktail with a twist a try!
- Jackie
“Muddle.” Please explain
Well Joan, muddling is the act of extracting essential oils by crushing the ingredient. In this case, I use a wood citris juicer (shown in picture) and smashed the basil into the bottom of the martini shaker before I added the lime juice and vodka. There you have your answer.
Peppy would have loved the nod and the memories and would certainly have loved another gimlet. Hmmm…perhaps I’ll have one tonight. I don’t believe I’ve ever tasted one.