Pimm's Cup

Build in the glass. Pimm’s is already a flavored gin cup; you are diluting it with citrus soda and ice, not inventing a punch. The garnish is traditional and it is also how the drink tastes on sip three, once the cucumber and mint have sat in the ice. Do not muddle the fruit. Do not use six kinds of berry. One cucumber spear is more important than the strawberry. Stir once. If you only have American lemonade, cut it with soda so the drink does not go cloudy and sweet.

Two to four is the house highball. Pimm’s No. 1 is the bottle — the original gin-based cup, about 25% ABV. There is no honest substitute that keeps the name. Fever-Tree sparkling lemon or a dry lemon soda is the “lemonade” James Pimm’s descendants mean. Ginger ale is a common swap and makes a spicier cup; use it on purpose. If the drink is flabby, your soda is too sweet or your ice melted. If it tastes like medicine, you poured more Pimm’s than soda.

James Pimm sold a gin sling at his London oyster bar in the 1840s; the bottled cup is the commercial descendant. Wimbledon made it a season. We are not going to invent a first cocktail-book page. This is the SipSelect Kitchen build of the English highball: Pimm’s No. 1, lemon soda, cucumber and mint. That is the drink. Everything else is a garden party.

Pimm’s and ginger

Replace the lemonade with ginger ale when you want spice instead of lemon soda. Same garnish. Use it in cooler weather; the ginger makes the cup feel less like a lawn.

Winter Pimm’s

Use Pimm’s and ginger ale with an orange wheel and no cucumber when cucumbers are sad. It is still a cup. Do not add cinnamon syrup unless you want a different drink.