You might have heard of Pimm’s liqueur or even enjoyed a Pimm’s Cup cocktail, but did you know that fruit cups are an entire category of cocktails? Granted it’s a pretty loose family, but as the weather starts to warm up now is the perfect time to give them a shot!
Gin is the most common base spirit, but there are historic examples based around all the common liquors. Pimm’s is in fact actually Pimm’s No. 1 and is gin based, but previously the company produced Pimm’s No. 1-7, essentially the same product but built around different spirits including rum, brandy, Scotch, rye, tequila, and vodka. To this base spirit, a proprietary blend of fruits, herbs, and spices are added. The result is fruity, citrus forward, and herbaceous with notes of gin and juniper.
The drink is commonly finished with fresh fruit or herbs and sparkling lemonade, tonic water, or ginger ale making it a long drink. There are dozens of variations, and the list of possible additions is long. Common additions include mint, borage, cucumber, lemons, berries, and bitters. Furthermore several British companies produce a cup liqueur, though Pimm’s was the only option I could find for sale in Georgia. Of course each producer of the liqueur has an opinion about the best way to serve it.
It occurred to me though, all of these cups were essentially premixed cocktails. Could we make our own version? As someone who delights in reinventing the wheel, I was happy to learn that yes, we can, and in fact the options were nearly limitless! So, I started planning.
Though I had the option to branch out, I wanted to stay with gin. It’s always been my default as we begin transition into spring and summer, and I find it very refreshing. Because I plan on adding a good amount of citrus, I wanted to avoid most of the softer botanical gins that are already citrus heavy. Instead I opted for London dry style gins that are more juniper forward and herbaceous. I’d begin experimentation with Bombay Sapphire, and Hayman’s London Dry. I also grabbed a bottle of 13th Colony Southern Gin in case I wanted something a little lighter.

Many of the recipes I found online called for the addition of sweet vermouth which makes sense as we’re looking to add some more botanical notes and a little body. I wasn’t sure what would add the most to the cocktail without overwhelming the other ingredients so I tried two bottles that are standard fixtures on my bar. On the lighter side I used Dolin Sweet Vermouth which is a little brighter and more floral than my other option, Cocchi Rosso which tends towards a heavier body and more spice characteristics.
I also grabbed a bottle of Aperol. Many of the recipes I’d found in my research called for triple-sec or curacao. I opted for Aperol because it still provides a boost of orange and citrus flavors, but also adds a bitterness and citrus rind character that I wanted to play up.
In addition to the boozy ingredients, I got fresh lemons, strawberries, cucumber, and rosemary to play around with. I also wasn’t sure if I would prefer tonic or ginger ale to finish my cocktail so I grabbed a few of each: Q tonic, generic tonic water, Blenheim’s Gold Cap, and Athens own Ginger’s Bunkhouse. With all that set up on my bar, it was time to start experimentation!
My plan was to make a cocktail that drank like lemonade but with a bitter and refreshingly gin finish like a Negroni. I also wanted something that I could batch in advance and finish with a sparkling beverage and ice to serve.
Because I knew I wanted a strong lemonade presence, I started with whole lemons cut into halves and then quartered. I added a tablespoon of sugar and a pinch of salt and muddled until I had a rich lemon syrup. Muddling with sugar was meant to both mix the ingredients but also draw out some of the oils present in the lemon peel. The salt added a little body and interest to the syrup. One tablespoon of sugar tasted great at first, sweet, but not syrupy and with a great lemon character. But as I tried more iterations of the cocktail it became clear that plenty of other ingredients added sweetness and what I really needed was a more acidic lemon flavor. Ultimately 1tsp of sugar per lemon ended up being sweet enough without overdoing it.
My next step was to work out at least a rough ratio between the ingredients. In my research I had found most versions of the cocktail either used equal portions of liquors or slightly more gin. After a few different taste tests I found a ratio of 3:2:2, gin to vermouth and Aperol, to be well balanced but still gin forward.

At this point I was also able to start determining which products I wanted to use in the final drink. The first step was to make two identical drinks with the two different vermouths. For this test I used Southern Gin as it was mild and economical. Though I thought the Cocchi would be an easy winner, the Dolin brought a lightness and fruity character that really elevated the cocktail. Using a similar method I made three identical drinks each with a different gin. This choice was a little harder as each version had something I really liked. The Hayman’s was assertive and very gin forward, but clean and crisp; the Southern Gin was very light and easy drinking; but the Bombay Sapphire was the most balanced and yet it had some unique herbal elements that ultimately won me over.
The next step was to figure out if we could really push this cocktail over the edge with an additional ingredient or two. I made three cocktails just like in the last step but each was muddled with an extra ingredient, one cucumber, one strawberry, and the final with rosemary. The cucumber was good, but a little disjointed and it didn’t really enhance the cocktail as much as add another flavor. Strawberry on the other hand was an easy choice. It worked well with the other ingredients of the drink, but really elevated the flavors without overwhelming anything. I was also very surprised by just how good the rosemary version came out. I had expected it to be overly botanical or even bitter, but it was subtle and complex. On a whim I mixed the strawberry and rosemary iterations together, and wow… we had a winner.
The only thing left to decide was which sparkling beverage would we use to finish the drink. I made four more identical drinks using what we’d learned so far and finished them with my mixers: Q Tonic, generic tonic water, Blenheim’s Gold Cap, and Ginger’s Bunkhouse. I loved what ginger brought to the table, and if I were to experiment further I might even add a slice of ginger during the muddling step, but both ginger beers were too sweet to work with this cocktail. The drink was no longer refreshing and light, but kind of heavy and a little syrupy. The choice between the tonics was a little harder as they were both good. The generic tonic water was a little more subtle which I liked, but it was the dryness of the Q Tonic that finally won me over. We had our recipe.

Summer Cup
1 Lemon, cut into eight pieces
1 Strawberry
1 sprig fresh Rosemary, roughly two inches
1 teaspoon Sugar
pinch of Salt

Muddle ingredients thoroughly until all are fully expressed and add:

1.5oz Bombay Sapphire
1oz Dolin Sweet Vermouth
1oz Aperol

Stir until well mixed. Strain into a collins glass filled with ice. Top with Q Tonic, and garnish with mixed berries on a skewer.