In England, the Pimm's cocktail is a refresher most associated with Wimbledon and summer. In San Francisco, the drink has remained on several restaurant and bar menus since earlier this year, perhaps because our fog is reminiscent of the stereotypically unpleasant London weather.
The Pimm's No. 1 Cup, the main ingredient in the Pimm's cocktail, is a brown-burgundy-colored, gin-based, semisweet, fruity liqueur. The liqueur is so strongly associated with the Pimm's cocktail that the cocktail is often called the Pimm's cup, the Pimm's No. 1 cup, or Pimm's and lemonade. Pimm's No. 1 Cup (the liqueur) is often simply called Pimm's.
Michael Garcia, sommelier for the W Hotel, suggests that Pimm's recent popularity may be due to the revived interest in classic drinks.
"More and more people are ordering it. I think people are interested in trying spirits that have a history to them and that's definitely one of them," Garcia says.
The Pimm's history begins in London in 1823, when James Pimm opened Pimm's Oyster Bar. He served oysters alongside the "house cup," a gin sling with a proprietary mix of liqueurs and fruit extracts. The drink was a big hit and he expanded the business to sell it by the bottle to other taverns. Several years later he followed with Pimm's No. 2 Cup, made with a Scotch base, and Pimm's No. 3 Cup, with a brandy base.
Eventually six Pimm's Cup versions were released, with base spirits rum, rye and vodka completing the line. Today, liquor giant Diageo, who owns the brand, sells only the original gin-based No. 1 Cup in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the gin-based No. 1 Cup, vodka-based No. 6 Cup, brandy-based No. 3 Cup (now labeled Pimm's Winter No. 3) are available.
The Pimm's and lemonade recipe on the official Pimm's Web site calls for one part Pimm's No. 1 Cup with three parts lemonade. But note: "Lemonade" to the Brits means lemon-lime soda to us. The Web site also suggests using ginger ale instead for "a tangy twist."
Bay Area bars and restaurants use a variety of mixers in their versions of the Pimm's cocktail, including some combination of ginger ale, ginger beer, American lemonade, soda water, and sparkling wine or Champagne.
Fruit and garnish are as much a signature of the drink as the mixer. Bartenders commonly include some combination of cucumber slices, apples, oranges, lemons and strawberries, and often top the drink with a mint sprig.
In his book "The Cocktails of the Ritz Paris" (Simon & Schuster, 2003) author Colin Peter Field includes green and black grapes and pear in his version of the cocktail, and says that he often adds strawberries and raspberries with red currants that "enhance the presentation. For the ladies I add a few petals of rose or an iris flower whole."
At the Slanted Door restaurant in San Francisco, bar manager Erik Adkins bases his Royal Pimm's Cup on Field's recipe, but skips the gender-specific garnish.
Adkins attempts to make the quencher as aromatic as possible, zesting orange and lime peel onto the finished drink, nesting a large slice of cucumber inside the rim of the glass, and topping it with a sprig of Thai basil. He suggests people sip the drink instead of using a straw to get a noseful of flavor.
Adkins doesn't use Pimm's No. 1 but a homemade version similar to Field's. It is a combination of gin, several kinds of sweet and dry vermouth, Campari and Dubonnet Rouge.
Adkins introduced the drink this summer as a Wimbledon-themed special. He says the drink is still popular, but he may take it off the menu soon to make room for a more winter-appropriate cocktail. He says, "Once someone sees one go out, everyone orders it, but if no one orders one we can go days without serving one."
Holly Crisson of Noe Valley became a fan of the Pimm's cocktail during a summer trip to London. "It seemed to be the appropriate drink," she says. Since returning, she's made an effort to seek out Pimm's in better bars and restaurants. She says her favorite Pimm's finds (in order) are San Francisco's Market Bar, the XYZ Bar in the W Hotel and Boulevard.
Pimm's cocktails appeared on several other restaurant drink menus this year, including Town Hall, Range, RNM and Cortez.
There are several other classic cocktails that call for Pimm's No. 1 Cup, but in San Francisco restaurants, bartenders tend to invent new ones. At Bambuddha Lounge, Pimm's is served in a Lucky Bamboo with ginger beer and ginger syrup. At Citizen Thai and the Monkey it is used in a Citizen's Cup with gin, ginger beer and fresh sour mix. At the Stray bar in Bernal Heights, it's served in a Kameleon with rum, blue curacao, pineapple juice and orange juice.
At Bourbon & Branch, the traditional Pimm's cocktail is sometimes available with added aromatic cucumber-mint foam on top, and bartender Todd Smith says he'll soon offer it as a martini-style drink without ice.
Many of San Francisco's British-style pubs keep a bottle of Pimm's No. 1 on hand, but Pimm's fan Crisson says she's no longer ordering them at neighborhood venues after some negative experiences. "Pimm's is not the kind of liqueur that you keep on the shelf unless you know what you're doing with it. I'm not going to order it from just any old bar. To have a disappointing Pimm's Cup is really disappointing."
