Drink of the Month.....April!

My father-in-law, fondly referred to as The Pops, is a bit of a creature of habit. Now don't get me wrong, he's pretty adventurous when it comes to trying new things, but when he finds something he loves it becomes a permanent part of his life. He loves his instant half-caff coffee(and a certain brand...that I always forget...and never, ever get right when he visits). He loves his Hot Shot(one cup electric kettle kind of thing) for said coffee(if it ever breaks we'll have a riot on our hands because I don't think they make them anymore). And he loves his Pimms. Actually, both he AND his wife love their Pimms. What is Pimms you ask? Well I'm glad you asked because it is the main ingredient in my Drink of the Month.....The Pimms No.1 Cup.

My husband and I bought Pops and his awesome wife(really...she's pretty darn cool) a bottle of Pimms after trying it in St. Lucia........
(at the Almond Morgan Bay resort...I highly recommend it...best food at an all-inclusive I've had yet...wonderful service...St. Lucia is second to none...Look!!!).

We were sitting at the swim-up bar next to a nice British couple and all four of us were trying to decide which delicious concoction we would ask the bartender for next. We had already drank more Pina Coladas, Strawberry Daiquiris, Rum & Cokes, Bourbon and Cokes, Pitons(St. Lucia's hometown beer), Vodka and Cranberries, Screwdrivers(the list goes on) than we'd care to admit and were in the market for something different. The woman leaned over and said "Whenever we can't decide what to drink at home...we reach for the Pimms), and so we did.

Pimms itself, straight out of the bottle, is a mixed drink of sorts. It's a gin based liquor that tastes to me like gin and really yummy cough syrup. Now please don't let that dissuade you. I said REALLY YUMMY cough syrup. So you could drink it on the rocks, OR, you could make the Pimms No.1 Cup....and you should. The Pimms No.1 Cup is like the nesting egg of the alcoholic beverage world. It's a mixed drink inside of a mixed drink inside of my belly. My husband can, and will, consume an entire bottle of Pimms in one night of drinking Pimms No.1 Cups and still be left wanting more. It's rather low in alcohol(25% by vol) and downright addictive. Now there is some discrepancy over this yummy in my tummy concoction. Some like to mix Pimms and lemonade and pour it over ice. Some like to mix Pimms and a lemon-lime soda and pour it over ice(The Pops just informed me that the reason my husband THOUGHT he was supposed to drink it with lemonade is because the British call a 7-up like beverage "lemonade"). Some like to mix Pimms and ginger ale and pour it over ice. The Pops and The Wife always make "diet" versions of their drinks(stay tuned....I might post one of their award winning(I give out the awards in my mind but they still count) drink recipes in an upcoming post...they're great) and this is no exception. They use diet ginger ale and Pimms(and it too is good). You can try any of these, and more(much more...just google and see). I prefer the 7-up....my hubby prefers the lemonade....we're a divided household.

So back to the Pops and The Wife. To close out their side of the story I'll tell you this. We gave The Pops and his wife their first bottle of Pimms and they loved it. Soon thereafter they visited Antigua and they too bonded with a British couple over the Pimms(apparently they still keep in touch...don't underestimate The Power of the Pimms). A few months after giving them their inaugural bottle we met up with them, another bottle of Pimms in hand, expecting it to be a wonderful treat. "Oh!" they would say, "What a treat! We are so delighted that you brought us another bottle of it as we cannot seem to find it in any of the liquor stores in my area. We will drink it slowly to make it last.". Instead they said, "We buy it by the case online". And we couldn't have been more happy for them.

Pimms No.1 Cup....as stated on the back of the Pimms bottle...and no...it's certainly not very accurate..."tall glass" could mean anything....in fact, tonight, just for shits and grins, I think I might make a No.1 Cup in one of our Hofbrau House mugs we brought back from Munich(see "this is my husband" picture on the right side of the page)

Fill a tall glass halfway with ice
Add 1.5 oz of Pimms(The Pops uses a little more than a "shot" and it works great)
Top off with ginger ale or lemon-lime soda
Garnish whit a slice of lemon
.......and don't make any other plans for the evening
..............you'll be spending it with your new best friend.....Mr.(or Mrs. if you like) Pimms