Quince gimlet

[plum]

I had poached some sliced quinces in water with only 2 1/4 c sugar for 1 1/2 lb quinces as an experiment, because I love quinces but dislike approaches that embalm them in thick syrup. The remaining poaching liquid was a light ruby-red syrup, wonderfully tart and fragrant.

So I had an idea to make a cocktail inspired by the Pomegranate Gimlet served at Danny Meyer's Indian-fusion restaurant Tabla in New York.

Quince gimlet

Ice
1 1/4 oz. Plymouth gin
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
2 oz light syrup leftover from poaching quinces
simple syrup (1:1 ratio of sugar to water)

Fill a highball glass with ice. Add the gin, lime juice and quince poaching syrup, and stir to blend. Balance to taste with simple syrup.

It turned out very nicely: the rose/pineapple quince notes were a good counterpart to the straight-ahead juniper bite of the gin.

[JMF]

That seems like a low alcohol, low lime juice, high syrup ratio for a cocktail. How sweet was it?

[plum]

Not very sweet, as the quince-poaching syrup was actually sour. I had to balance it with a bit of simple syrup after adding the lime juice.