Vodka Gimlet

We can thank my brother (in a very round about way) for this recipe. I am an avid reader and try to devour as many trashy paperback novels/series as I can get through in a week. I average at around one and a half per week and usually finish 75 books a year. One of my major frustrations is authors who do not write fast enough for me to stay interested in their work. To ease my frustrations I now give them a 10 book head-start to make sure they finish what they start and hopefully don't die before the series is finished (It is surprising how often this happens).
The most recent series I have been reading is the Archy McNally series by Lawrence Sanders, Lawrence died but the series has been carried on. It also happens to be one of my brothers favourite book series from when it was originally written in the early 90's.
Archy is a private investigator working "discrete inquires" for the upper crust in Palm Beach, Florida. He is a bit of a womanizer that has affinities for fine food and numerous drinks. One drink that he regularly guzzles is a Vodka Gimlet.
I had to look it up because I wasn't familiar with it but is is basically vodka and some form of lime juice. It is great for avoiding scurvy and tastes delicious as well. It is probably more suited for summer but I didn't want to wait another 6 months before I tried it.
Gimlet's are traditionally a made with gin but like Martini's are probably better made with Vodka.
In my research I also found that they are made with "Rose's Lime Cordial", something that I have never heard of but is popular in England. I ended up making my own lime juice and it was worth the hour I spent squeezing limes.

Ingredients:
This makes about a cup of finished lime cordial.

• The juice of 20 - 25 limes (2 Cups)
• 1 cup sugar
• Vodka
• The zest of 10 limes
• drop of green food coloring (optional)
• sparkling water (optional)

Directions:

1. Clean the lime thouroughly.
2. Zest 10 of them and set aside.
3. Squeeze the juice into a measuring cup until you have two cups of it (don't worry about pulp being in the juice because you will strain it later).
4. In a small sauce pan gently boil the juice until it reduces by half.
5. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
6. Remove it from the heat and add the zest and drop of food coloring then let is steep for 15 minuets.
7. Strain and bottle for use (I am not sure what the consistency should be - mine wasn't thick but still juicy/runny).
8. Store in the fridge.
9. For the drink I went with 3 jiggers of Vodka to 1 jigger of juice shaken and strained into a martini glass. If you want to lighten it up you top it up with sparkling water.

 I think this is my new favourite drink and will probably end up looking crazy more often when buying 20 or more limes at a time.