After Joe Rickey, Washington DC, ~1880s.
| 2 oz · 60 ml | GIN | 40 % |
| ¾ oz · 22 ml | LIME JUICE | |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | SIMPLE SYRUP | |
| 3 oz · 90 ml | SODA WATER |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 3.25 oz mixed with ice, 0.8 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Built in the glass: +5 % of the pre-batch, +0.16 oz of water |
| Topped | Poured after the melt, kept whole: soda water 3 oz, no alcohol |
| Served | 3.25 + 0.16 + 3 = 6.41 oz in the glass, 0.8 oz of it alcohol |
| Strength | 0.8 ÷ 6.41 = 12.5 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 0.8 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 19 g · about 131 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM GIN
The pine note in juniper berries, and the reason gin tastes like a forest. Co-distilled with the spirit during production. Found in actual pine trees, rosemary, basil, and a good London Dry. The "Christmas tree" smell of gin and the smell of a forest floor share a single molecule.
ALSO IN Negroni · Martini · Gimlet · Gin & Tonic · Aviation · Corpse Reviver #2 · French 75 · Bramble
FROM LIME · the lemon aroma
Lemon's defining note: technically a mix of two geometric isomers (geranial and neral) that read as the same aroma to the nose. Lemon peel, lemongrass, lemon verbena, and Indian chai all carry it. In cocktails it's what a lemon twist contributes that lemon juice can't: the volatile expressed from the oil glands, not the acid from the pulp.
ALSO IN Margarita · Mojito · Daiquiri · Whiskey Sour · Gimlet · Moscow Mule · Paper Plane · Aviation
Gin, lime, sugar and soda. It is the Gimlet lengthened into a highball. The Rickey-style soda top means the drink reads lighter and lasts longer. Alpha-pinene and citral are carried in a CO₂-amplified medium.
Colonel Joe Rickey of Washington DC popularized the rickey format (spirit, citrus, soda over ice in a highball) through the 1880s. The Gin Rickey is the canonical version; the Gimlet Rickey is its sweetened cousin, adding the simple syrup that the original Joe Rickey deliberately omitted. Modern bartenders use the rickey format as a base template for any spirit-citrus-soda drink.
