Happy Hour Grapefruit Gimlet

This week we sat down with Employees Only mixologist Dushan Zaric, who showed us how to turn a classic gimlet into a perfectly balanced, grapefruit-infused vodka cocktail just in time for another summer weekend—one of 2012's last.

The gimlet, typically a gin cocktail, is steeped in history. As with much cocktail lore, conflicting versions of its origins abound, but the most widely accepted tale goes like this: In 1867, the L. Rose company of Edinburgh, Scotland, came up with its famous Rose's Lime Juice, an alcohol-free method of preserving lime in a sugar syrup. That same year the British Royal Navy, in an attempt to keep its sailors free of scurvy and rickets, gave them rations of Rose's elixir—vitamin C in a bottle! (If you've ever heard a British sailor called a limey, that's why.)

Officers, meanwhile, were given Plymouth gin (the lower ranks got rum) to supplement their freshwater supply. Some 12 years later, as legend has it, a medical officer and surgeon named Thomas Gimlette began mixing the gin and juice as a palatable way for the crew to get their daily dose of C. From there the gimlet was born.

A classic gimlet is simply gin, sugar and lime juice. (Skip the Rose's, by the way; fresh fruit juice is superior.) The sweet-and-sour marriage of the sugar and lime perfectly counteracts the gin's bitterness; that's why the cocktail is so well balanced. For this recipe, Zaric prefers vodka to gin; vodka allows the bitter notes in the grapefruit to bring harmony to the drink. "Grapefruit and lime blends very well with vodka which gives you a three-dimensional cocktail that has a beginning, a middle, and an end," he says.

And he is right. With essentially four components at play here, it's the citrus-forward simplicity that makes this drink an amazing summer cocktail. Zaric is a perfectionist, so if you order this in his bar you'll get Russian Standard vodka and ruby red grapefruit. “The ‘baked bread’ flavor of this vodka provides a savory note for the back of the palate,” he says. “And the added sweetness of the ruby red really hits the front palate to round out the cocktail.”

So now that your palate is properly addressed, give this drink a try. One sip will remind you that the beauty is in the details. And the grapefruit gimlet is a beauty indeed.

Grapefruit Gimlet
Recipe courtesy of Dushan Zaric, Employees Only, in New York City

What you'll need:
2 oz good quality vodka
¾ oz freshly squeezed lime juice
¾ oz agave nectar
1 ruby red grapefruit half-wheel, for muddling
1 ruby red grapefruit half-wheel, for garnish
1 dash grapefruit bitters (optional)

How to make it:
Place one ruby red grapefruit half-wheel into a mixing glass. Muddle until all the juices and oils from the peel are extracted. Discard the peel and add the rest of the ingredients. Add large cold ice and shake vigorously for a few seconds. Strain into a rocks glass over ice; garnish with ruby red grapefruit.