Episode 058

Now, the big questions when you’re making a Pimm’s cup (or any summer cup) are: what’s the occasion, and how boozy do you want it to be? These are important questions.

As a host, you’re responsible for your guests, their health, and their safety. And the beauty of a big batched cocktail like this is that it really allows you to dial in your desired ABV pretty precisely.

If the only source of alcohol in your summer cup is the Pimm’s, you’re going to be looking at something that’s roughly 8.25% alcohol by Volume, and that’s before dilution or other non-alcoholic liquid ingredients come into play. So really, you’re looking at something around 5-7%, which is about as boozy as a normal beer and about half the strength of a glass of wine.

Knowing that’s your starting point, you can choose to go for a more middle-of-the-road approach by addiing Champagne or sparkling wine into the mix. This would be called something like a “Pimm’s Royale.”

And if you’re looking for a more potent brew, you can always crank it to 11 and add some gin, which is the base spirit used in Pimm’s No. 1 cup, and it also happens to pair well with cucumber and mint.

Pimm’s & Wimbledon

One last fun fact we’ll add about the Pimm’s Cup cocktail is its historical connection to the Wimbledon tennis tournament that’s held each year in London. The Pimm’s Cup is to Wimbledon as the Mint Julep is to the Kentucky Derby. Essentially, it’s the traditional beverage that all the fancy rich people drink when they attend these sporting events.

According to Wine Enthusiast Magazine, the first Pimm’s Bar at Wimbledon opened in 1971, and ever since, the cocktail has enjoyed wild popularity wherever Brits congregate to watch people bat a fuzzy ball over a net repeatedly.

On the other hand, you’ve got more craft alternatives that emerge locally every once in a while. Here in the DC area, we had a collaboration between Green Hat Gin and Capitoline Vermouth that was produced all the way through 2017, but I can’t find any mention of it being produced this year.

Here’s a blurb from Green Hat’s Summer Cup 3rd Annual Release:

“We’re the first commercial producers of a Summer Cup in the United States. It took us a long time to get the recipe right and it continues to be a crowd favorite and perfect patio drink companion. It combines our Navy Strength Gin with Capitoline White Vermouth and a blend of fruits, herbs and spices that includes cucumbers, black tea, citrus zest, lemon balm, lavender, rose-hips and a few secrets. It’s delightfully complex and refreshing, with less sweetness than some other well-known cups out there. It’s perfect when topped with cucumber, strawberries and lemonade.”

Sangria

Now, I want to address a realization that most of you probably had at some point during the Summer Cup discussion, and that realization is:

Wait, so a Summer Cup is basically just Sangria…

In the sense that Sangria is a light, fruit infused summer drink that’s occasionally served sparkling and has a number of different expressions, then yes. Summer Cup and Sangria look and act much the same. They’re both great for parties or backyard barbecues, and you can usually throw one together with a single trip to the grocery store or whatever you have lying around the house.

The Historical Problem with Sangria

One problem with Sangria, though, is that historians and bartenders can’t really agree on where it comes from. It emerged in its current form at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City, where it was served as the official drink of the country of Spain in an effort to help popularize Spanish wine, which at that time was really looked down upon as inferior. Ironically, this didn’t really do much for the wine’s reputation because it still implied that the best way to drink Spanish wine was to mask its true flavor with fruit.

But let’s look at the linguistic base for sangria – sangre – a word that means “blood” across the romance languages.

Clearly, this name refers to the red wine base that provides the color of this beverage, and this little etymological factoid connects us back with a much older drink called the Sangaree.

The Sangaree: A Proto-Cocktail

This proto-cocktail holds down a really important part of the historical development of the cocktail. It’s one of a few bridges between the age of punch in the 16- and 1700s and the age of individually served mixed drinks in the 1800s and beyond.

One thing historians generally agree upon is that the Sangaree is basically a single-serving punch.

You’ve got alcohol from whatever wine you use (most popularly it was port wine or sherry). Then you’ve got a bit of sugar, a bit of citrus if it was available, and a little grated nutmeg on top for your spice. This was usually a shaken cocktail and with that dilution from the ice, it would put you in the general vicinity of punch potency at least where ABV is concerned.

Breaking(ish) News: Sangria DOC

One last thing to note about Sangria, in terms of recent developments, is that Spain and Portugal have managed to push a regulation through the European Union that grants them a sort of geographical dominion over Sangria in the same way that France has Champagne and Italy has Prosecco. In other words, if it comes from any country besides Spain or Portugal, they have to call it German-style Sangria, or some other type of Sangria – none of which sound nearly as appealing as the genuine article.

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