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JUL

Raise Your Glass: It's Gimlet Time!

Have you heard? Shipt is now delivering liquor! To celebrate, we’ve collected a list of gin cocktails that will have you toasting in no time. Each of these cocktails can be made with just a few simple ingredients. But the best part is that they’re all in the same family, the Sour, so you don’t have to do much work to get from one to another (more time to do what you want to do, celebrate!).

The Sour

At its simplest, the Sour is booze, sugar, and citrus fruit. With gin and lime juice, it’s called a gimlet, and is believed to have been created by sailors hundreds of years before it was named. It’s also really easy to make. To start, order sugar, fresh limes, and gin from the app. The pre-bottled lime juice is tempting, but just doesn’t taste as good.

shutterstock_315320483Simple Syrup

While you’re juicing the limes, heat up some water to make syrup. Once it’s at a boil, measure one cup (or more, if you’re mixing for a crowd) of sugar into a bowl, and add one cup of water to it. Stir until all of the sugar has dissolved. It’ll stay good for about a month in your fridge, so don’t toss it out after you’ve made your first round.

The Gimlet

Once you’ve got juice and syrup, grab a shot glass and two Solo cups. Fill one pint glass with ice. Measure one shot glass of lime juice, one of syrup, and two of gin. Pour back and forth between the two glasses above the sink until it’s chilled. Pour the finished cocktail into your drinking glass. Voila, a Gimlet! But the best is yet to come. The measurements (and syrup recipe) work for a whole lot of different cocktails. Even starting with the simple recipe, you can drink it as is, or dress it up with a dash of bitters. If you want to add a flavor like vanilla, add a couple drops of extract to the syrup while you’re mixing in the sugar.   In fact, that’s how bartenders created the: French 75 (use lemon and top with champagne!) Tom Collins (use lemon, and top with soda water!) Bee’s Knees (use honey syrup and lemon, yum!) They’re also easy to make for a crowd. Instead of using a shot glass, use a measuring cup to measure out one cup of juice, one cup of syrup, and two cups of gin into a pitcher. Add ice and stir. Serve over ice. Cheers!   SCWMK-3239 Clair is a freelance writer and bartender-at-large based in Birmingham, Alabama. When she’s not research or writing about cocktails, Clair is usually nerding out on trashy science-fiction. Her other work is usually posted on Twitter @see_clair_write and at clairmclafferty.com. CTA-blog-ABC-min