Sorrel Gimlet

Jam Jam Gin, rhum agricole, sorrel, hibiscus, and pansy — a Gimlet rebuilt from the ground up.

Recipe by Miles Macquarrie, Kimball House, Decatur, Georgia.

The Gimlet is one of the cleaner templates in the cocktail canon: spirit, citrus, sweetener. What you bring to those three slots defines the drink. Miles Macquarrie's Sorrel Gimlet, served at Kimball House in Decatur, Georgia, doesn't so much reinvent the Gimlet as elevate it into something botanical and strikingly modern. The sorrel syrup introduces hibiscus-adjacent tartness; the rhum agricole adds earthiness; the Japanese strawberry gin provides a floral, fruit-forward counterpoint to the Jam Jam Gin's drier botanical backbone.

The classic Gimlet has its roots in the British Royal Navy's 19th-century effort to fight scurvy at sea. Sailors were required to drink lime juice daily, and officers mixed it with gin to make the medicine go down. Rose's Lime Cordial, the sweetened preserved lime juice, became the standard mixer. By the time Raymond Chandler put a Gimlet in Philip Marlowe's hand in The Long Goodbye (1953), the drink had already earned its place as a symbol of clean, purposeful drinking.

This version honors the citrus core with a fresh lime cordial and saline to sharpen everything, while sorrel syrup turns the drink a vivid deep red-pink in the glass. The pansy garnish is not an afterthought. It's Miles saying: this is a serious cocktail, and it should look like one.