An easy approach to the gimlet for summer drinking from a Durham bartender
In May 2024, mother-daughter team chef Preeti Waas and Amy Waas opened Bar Beej within Preeti’s acclaimed Durham restaurant, Cheeni. The 11-seat speakeasy has already been nominated for a James Beard Award for Best New Bar, and as the manager and mixologist, Amy says the bar shares its philosophy with the restaurant: “Almost all of our cocktails ought to be accessible within the constraints of a home kitchen, because that’s the way we cook.”
The perfect example of this is the simple gimlet, one of Amy’s favorite cocktails, which she enjoys with locally made, women-owned Conniption gin and woman-owned El Guapo lime cordial. The cordial does the work of balancing sweetness and acidity with the alcohol-forward nature of this cocktail and is reliable if you can’t find good quality limes. At her no-frills concept, Amy considers garnishes optional, subject to what’s available or inspiring, so the final piece of this cocktail is a Boston shaker, which Amy says “helps a beginner bartender interact with the end product and the process of getting there better than other shakers do.”…