Lime rickey
 |
|
| Type | Cocktail |
|---|---|
| Primary alcohol by volume | |
| Served | On the rocks; poured over ice |
| Standard garnish |
lime half shell |
| Standard drinkware |
.svg){kind=small} |
| Commonly used ingredients |
|
| Preparation | Combine spirit, lime and shell in a highball or wine glass. Add ice, stir and then add sparkling mineral water. |
lime half shell
The Rickey is a highball drink made from gin or bourbon, half of a lime squeezed and dropped in the glass, and carbonated water. Little or no sugar is added to the rickey. Originally created with bourbon in Washington, D.C. at Shoomaker's bar by bartender George A. Williamson in the 1880s, purportedly in collaboration with Democratic lobbyist Colonel Joe Rickey, it became a worldwide sensation when mixed with gin a decade later.
A recipe for the rickey appears as early as Daly's Bartenders' Encyclopedia (1903, p. 57) by Tim Daly:
GIN RICKEY. Use a sour glass. Squeeze the juice of one lime into it. 1 small lump of ice. 1 wine glass of Plymouth gin. Fill the glass with syphon seltzer, and serve with small bar spoon.
Since 2008 the rickey has enjoyed a resurgence with the revival of classic cocktails and a group of Washington, D.C.–based bartenders, known as the DC Craft Bartenders Guild, establishing July as Rickey Month. It was also featured with bourbon by political commentator and amateur mixologist Rachel Maddow on the Martha Stewart show for election night, 2008. Now most rickeys are made with gin (a gin rickey), also known as a lime rickey, particularly in its virgin cocktail variant served at soda fountains on the U.S. east coast.
The mojito, which originated in Cuba, is a popular relative of the rickey, made with lime juice, rum, simple syrup or muddled sugar, soda water, and muddled mint leaves.
In 1883, Colonel Joe Rickey was purported to have invented the "Joe Rickey," after a bartender at Shoomaker's in Washington, D.C. added a lime to his "mornin's morning," a daily dose of Bourbon with lump ice and Apollinaris sparkling mineral water. Some stories place the exact day as a Monday after Col. Joe Rickey celebrated his wager with a Philadelphian on the successful ascension of John G. Carlisle to Speaker of the House. Col. Joe Rickey was known as a "gentleman gambler" and placed many bets on the outcome of various political contests.
...
Wikipedia