The method
How to make it
If you are doing the smoked-salt rim, do it first: lime wedge around half the rim, press it into the smoked sea salt, set the glass aside.
Juice half a grapefruit fresh. Its bitter edge is the only citrus that stands up to the smoke instead of hiding behind it.
Light the tip of one rosemary sprig until it catches, blow it out, and trap your rocks glass upside-down over the smoke while you build.
In the shaker: gin, lime juice, the grapefruit juice, simple syrup and a ribbon of cucumber torn in half.
Fill with ice and shake hard for 12 seconds, a gimlet should come out cold enough to sting.
Flip the glass at the last second so the smoke pours out, then add one big cube and double strain over it.
Garnish with the second rosemary sprig and a thin grapefruit twist. The fruit you juiced rides the rim.
The serve
How to present it
Do the glass flip where your guest can see it, the smoke rolling out is the whole overture, and it costs you one rosemary sprig. Big clear cube, sprig standing tall like a pine in snow. This is a cold-weather aperitif wearing a summer drink's clothes; pour it before a rich dinner.
Make it yours
Swaps & variations
Vodka instead of gin if botanicals aren't your table's thing. Swap the simple syrup for honey syrup and you're brushing up against a Bee's Knees. Want the smoke in the liquid instead of the theater? A quarter ounce of mezcal rinsed around the glass does it, or a single drop of strong-brewed Lapsang souchong tea. No torch, no problem, it's a beautiful straight gimlet without any of it.
Keep pouring
