Rye Pimm’s Cup

When you wake up in the morning to find a request for recipe advice from friend and food stylist, Dan Macey of Dantastic Food, you jump on it. Dan was preparing a historic meal to be served in a refurbished barn and was looking for a signature cocktail that he was going to call a ‘Barn Raiser.’ The other criteria included being made with rye whiskey and in a pitcher. Dad’s Hat, a Bucks County, Pennsylvania distillery, had donated the rye whiskey for the evening.

I love a good food challenge and especially one that involves cocktails. I did some reading on cocktails with ‘barn’ flavors and not surprisingly didn’t come up with anything good. It’s a tough flavor profile with which to work. Then I started thinking about cocktails that I had made previously which could be adapted and I kept going back to a Pimm’s Cup. It was something that could be adapted plus would go well in a pitcher.

A traditional Pimm’s Cup is light and refreshing and is best known for being the official drink of Wimbledon. By adding rye to this drink, it’s moved from a low-alcohol day drink to one that can hold its own in the evening.

Pimm’s No. 1 is a gin-based liqueur with hints of spice and citrus. Don’t worry about the gin and rye whiskey combination as Pimm’s doesn’t have much of a gin profile at all – it’s more spice and citrus. (Side note that gin is simply vodka flavored with juniper berries and other botanicals so if it helps, just think of Pimm’s as more vodka-based.) The flavors in Pimm’s work well with both rye whiskey (which has its own spicy notes) and ginger ale. I recommend using a high quality ginger ale (such as Fever-Tree) as it’s not as sweet as the ginger ale we grew up drinking.

Did you know that over the years there have been a variety of Pimm’s that have only differed in their base alcohol?  They have included:  Scotch whiskey (No. 2), brandy (No. 3), rum (No. 4), rye whiskey (No. 5) and vodka (No. 6). No. 1 is the only one that’s widely available.

My foodie friend, Lisa D, was there to help Dan at the dinner. She mixed up a pitcher of Barn Raisers and I’m told they were well received – a few people even asked for the recipe. It was a hit in our house, too.

Gluten-Free/Wheat-Free Note: While the ingredients used to make both rye whiskey and Pimm’s No. 1 contain gluten many believe that the distillation process removes the gluten. As a result some with gluten sensitivities are okay while others are not.