Richmond Gimlet: Blind date with Jeffrey Morgenthaler

This recipe comes from the properly hydrated brain of distinguished cocktail maker Jeffrey Morgenthaler. He is best known for his book The Bar Book, but just released a new book named Drinking Distilled (review coming soon!). This seemed like a great occasion to highlight one of his signature drinks: The Richmond Gimlet.

The drink was supposedly invented back in 2001 at a former Oregan cocktail bar named Bamboo for a waiter named Daniel Richmond. The idea was to create a simple, but refreshing, summer drink with gin. The original recipe calls specifically for Tanqueray Ten, but we're sure Morgenthaler'd agree any gin in the same style would suffice—just make sure to pick something clean, crisp and mild on the juniper.

Now, I know what you're thinking: isn't this a Southside cocktail? Yes, yes it is. It's the same recipe, but as Morgenthaler puts it himself: "I assure you that nobody, myself included, had ever heard of a Southside in 2001". So we will give him a pass, as these things tend to happen in artistic endeavours (just ask The Beach Boys, or The Red Hot Chili Peppers, or whoever wrote the 'Ghostbusters' theme).

The combination makes for a very potable cocktail, a herbal hard lemonade perfect for getting you through those dreadful summery days. The drink reminds most of a Gimlet in flavour profile, but with an added soft complexity coming from the fresh mint. The tart flavours carry the drink, and the gin and mint round out the flavours into a very balanced concoction. It makes for an excellent argument in favour of gin drinks to non-believers.

Considering the drink is already a twist of sorts, it seems unnecessary to discuss twists on the drink. Having said that, let's do it anyway! One of the immediate first thoughts would be to replace the sweet and sour mix with a (homemade) cordial of choosing. Many would argue it's not a gimlet if it does not contain cordial (we don't care—we just want a good drink). In the same vein would be replacing the simple syrup with a compound syrup of choosing. The flavours should work out well with either replacing the mint and simple syrup with a mint syrup¹, or just the simple syrup with an elderflower syrup. But in all honesty, we don't really see the point. The drink is remarkably simple, and deceptively complex. Do too much with it, and it might just lose its charm.

Looking at the ingredients, one might expect this to be a gin Mojito or Mint Julep, but this is not the case. There is a very specific reason for this: the mint is not muddled. Muddling the mint would make it release many more oils and juices than shaking it with in the tin would, not to mention introduce the risk of overmuddling—which will add a bitter element to your drink in the form of chlorophyll. This also means the drink should not be overly shaken. One way of making sure the drink is cold enough (shaken long enough) without overshaking the mint is to add the mint to the tin after an initial shaking period. This ought to not be necessary, but this depends on your technique and equipment. The goal is to introduce an understated element of mint flavours to the drink, not a heavy base. For this same reason we also recommend going for a sweeter variety of mint (such as Moroccan spearmint) than a more-herbal variety (such as many Asian varieties).

^{1. Blanche 2-3 sprigs of mint for 15 seconds, pluck the leaves, blend them with 120ml of 1:1 simple syrup, then strain.}