L’Heure de l’Apéritif – Basil Gimlet

My husband and I had been talking about catching up on the past four seasons of Mad Men for ages. Finally, on a rainy sunday, we took the leap and watched the first three episodes. Getting the episodes one DVD at a time from Netflix means it will probably take us a while tog et through all of them, but apparently the 5th season has been postponed to 2012, so we’re not in a rush…

Mad Men takes place in the 1960s’ Madison Avenue, at the fictional ad agency of Sterling Cooper, where sexism reigns and the cocktails flow, even during work hours. Seeing so many martinis and old fashioned on the screen made us crave a little something alcoholic to sip on as well. Since the basil just sprouted in my Aerogarden, I really wanted to incorporate the herb into a cocktail. Basil mojitos came to mind, but felt a little too exotic so we settled for basil gimlets. We searched through many different recipes and ultimately settled for this one from Rye, a cocktail bar on Geary Street in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco.

A la vôtre!