A simple and at the same time surprisingly tasty cocktail that saved the lives of thousands of sailors, the invention of which was not at all the idea of a mixologist.
In the 17th century, English sailors realized that the consumption of citrus fruits helped prevent scurvy, which is one of the most common diseases during long voyages.
In 1747, James Lind, a Scottish surgeon, conducted a clinical study showing the effect of citrus fruits against scurvy. But he also argued that scurvy is the result of many factors - such as, for example, poorly digested food of poor quality, untreated water, processing hours and, as a result, total fatigue, dampness, and poor living conditions. Therefore, he did not claim that citruses are a panacea for scurvy and the only salvation.
In 1794, a ship named Suffolk sailed for 23 weeks without stopping on the way to India, and each crew member had one essential ingredient in the diet - lemon juice. During the entire journey, nothing deadly happened to any of the sailors. This indisputable fact is a consequence of the fact that since 1800 citrus juice has become an essential component of the diet of the entire fleet. The oft-quoted Merchant Shipping Act (1867) made it mandatory for all British ships to include lime juice in their diet.
Once the benefits of drinking citrus juice became widely known, British sailors who consumed large quantities of it began to mix it with a day's ration of water and rum and affectionately refer to it as Limeys.
Usually the juice was preserved and did not spoil thanks to the small amount of rum that was added to it, but in 1867 Lauchlin Rose - the owner of a shipbuilding company in Scotland, patented the process of preserving fruit juice with sugar, and not alcohol as before. To introduce the product into wide circulation, he packaged them in attractive bottles with the Rose's Lime Cordial label. Today, bars use lime cordial as a premix, that is, it is cooked in advance and mixed with gin when served.
Legend has it that while the rank and file drank rum, mixing it with lemon juice, the senior officers drank gin, of course, mixing it with Rose's Lime Cordial.
As for the name, the literal translation means "gimbal" - it is a small tool for opening barrels of alcohol transported by British ships.
Another story says that the cocktail is named after a certain marine doctor named Thomas Desmond Gimlette.
Despite the consonance, the dwarf Gimli from the trilogy of Professor John Ronald Rowel Tolkien has absolutely nothing to do with it.
One of the favorite cocktails of Timur Bekmambetov's wife, Gimlet confirms that drinking alcohol in reasonable doses is beneficial and sometimes vital.
