Pimm’s Cup

This drink is de rigueur at hoity-toity British summer festivities: Wimbledon, opera festivals, cricket matches, and other pinkie-erecting affairs. It’s usually heavily garnished with fruits like apples, strawberries, lemons and oranges, although some take it only with a thin slice of cucumber. You could also substitute whole berries like blueberries or blackberries for the sliced strawberries in the recipe below.
Many recipes call for ginger ale, but be careful if you’re in the US or another country that prefers saccharine-sweet ginger ale; that ingredient is far less sweet in the UK and is closer to ginger beer. Bitter lemon soda is actually our fizz of choice here, and even a sweeter lemon soda like Sanpellegrino’s is quite nice. For a lighter flavor, sparkling water (or a flavored sparkling water like cucumber, lemon or berry) is lovely as well.

Ingredients
- 2 parts Gin apéritif
- 6 parts Lemon soda or Lemon-lime soda or Ginger beer or Ginger ale or Sparkling water or Flavored sparkling water
- 4 slices Cucumber or Apple
- 4 slices Lemon or Orange or Yuzu
- 4 slices Strawberry or Blackberry or Blueberry or Raspberry
Instructions
Build in the order given in a tall ice-filled glass, adding the fruits and cucumber at the end and stirring gently to submerge. Garnish with a french sprig of mint, or a handful of borage or other edible flowers.


Get the App
The Cocktail Party app puts this drink – and hundreds more – in your pocket, and tells you what you can make from the ingredients you have at home. It's the best $3.99 you'll ever spend on a drink.

Read more
- The Secret To Making A Great Pimm’s Cup Has Nothing To Do With Pimm’s by Jeffrey Morgenthaler for Food Republic
