Name: Difford's Fruit Cup No.1 (gin based and Pimm's Cup-like)
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 25 ml Gin; 25 ml Orange Curaçao; 25 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth; 2 dash Aromatic bitters; 50 ml Ginger ale; 50 ml Cola

Difford's Fruit Cup No.1 (gin based & Pimm's Cup-like)
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Glass:

Serve in a Collins glass

Ingredients:
⁵⁄₆ fl oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
⁵⁄₆ fl oz	Ferrand Dry Curaçao
⁵⁄₆ fl oz	Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
2 dash	Angostura Aromatic Bitters
1 ²⁄₃ fl oz	Ginger ale
1 ²⁄₃ fl oz	Cola

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COLLINS GLASS.
Prepare garnish of lemon, orange & strawberry slices, mint sprig & borage in drink.

How to make:

POUR all ingredients into glass.
Half fill glass with ice.
Add a citrus slice and a couple of mint leaves from garnish
Fill to brim with ice.

Garnish:

Finish with rest of garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Rosso/rouge/sweet vermouth (di Torino) - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

This long refreshing fruity cocktail mimics the characteristics of a Pimm's Cup but with the punch and fullness flavour, reminiscent of distant decades when Pimm's No.1 carried a full 9% more alc./vol. than it does today. Predictably, my version is a good deal boozier. If you find too boozy for a summer's afternoon, then knock each of the first 3 ingredients back a tad to (22.5ml / .75oz) and add a splash more of the last 2 ingredients.

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History:

Created in 2011 by yours truly in an attempt to improve on a Pimm's Cup. For more recipes and history see Fruit Cups and Pimm's.

More cocktails by Simon Difford

Nutrition:

One serving of Difford's Fruit Cup No.1 (gin based & Pimm's Cup-like) contains 216 calories

Alcohol content:

1.4 standard drinks
12.73% alc./vol. (25.45° proof)
19.4 grams of pure alcohol

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Showing 10 of 17 comments for Difford's Fruit Cup No.1 (gin based & Pimm's Cup-like).
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David Holland

22nd April at 17:58

Used 25ml Gordon's, 25ml Martini Rosso and in the absence of Dry Curacao split 12.5ml Orange Curacao and 12.5ml Calvados topped up with the Ginger Ale and Cola. A delightfully boozy and refined Pimm's cup.

Chris Dimal

17th April at 21:07

Great summer drink with a bit of a backbone. For me the best fruit cup by far. I also would suggest having a gin that is stronger than 43% to really make it alive.

Monkey Beng

3rd November 2025 at 12:50

Perfect but I really wonder how the picture can be so clear with cola, rosso and ginger ale inside. Mine is dark...!?

Annabelle Egginton

12th July 2025 at 17:48

I prefer this to Pimms now

Richard Forbes

16th July 2024 at 16:48

There is something unusual about this recipe, in my "You Can Make" list I can see all of the other fruit cups except this one, and of course I have gin which is the only different ingredient

Simon Difford

17th July 2024 at 09:56

Hi Richard. If you haven't seen a reason for this issue, please email me so our IT team can look into it. simon.difford@diffordsguide.com

Avery Garnett

30th March 2024 at 17:56

as there doesn't seem to be a way to comment on the fruit cup article as a whole: having tried the gin (1), brandy (3), and tequila (7) cups I also wondered about what this mythical 16 could be. Having 1 serving of the mix (everything except spirit) left, I figured I would try to work out a missing option...and I tried aquavit. I don't think I'd recommend that one... :)

Avery Garnett

30th March 2024 at 16:49

It's nice. It tastes an awful lot like Pimms despite the ingredient list making me think "this is nothing like Pimms". I do think it needs a little less cola though, as it seems to take over a little.

Peter McCarthy

3rd August 2025 at 22:58

FWIW, I just tried this using Fever-Tree Distillers Cola and the cola didn't seem to take over.

Mel McGregor

28th January 2024 at 06:37

Lovely! I only had ginger beer which made this quite sweet, I can imagine the ginger ale would make it more dry, which would be perfect! As mentioned below, mine is much darker too.

Eva S.

3rd July 2023 at 04:55

Tried this for the first time today and loved it! Easy to build snd easy to drink. Tried it with the celery bitters someone suggested and I will say they added something nice to this already lovely cocktail.

Cynthia Horen

25th June 2022 at 23:16

Perfect for the end of June!

Monkey Beng

3rd November 2025 at 12:54

Perfect for the beginning of november !!

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