Pimm's No. 1

Pimm's No. 1 is an English gin-based "fruit cup" — a low-strength, dark reddish-brown liqueur first devised in London in 1823 by the oyster-bar proprietor James Pimm, who served it in a small tankard he called the "No. 1 Cup" as a genteel digestive tonic. Built on a gin base and flavoured with a secret blend of herbs, spice, caramel and citrus (orange-curaçao character is widely cited as the key note), it carries a soft, quinine-like herbal bitterness beneath its fruity sweetness. It is bottled at a modest 22–25% ABV, closer to a fortified apéritif than a spirit, and is rarely drunk neat. Instead it is served long as a "Pimm's Cup" — a tall glass over ice, topped with lemonade (British-style clear carbonated lemon soda) or ginger ale and heaped with cucumber, mint and summer fruit. Quintessentially English and unshakeably seasonal, it is the signature drink of the British summer social calendar, above all Wimbledon.