Patience Gould on alcoholic strength

Pimm’s used to be a range of six ‘cups’, based on the spirits gin, Scotch, brandy, rum, rye whiskey and vodka. Predominantly the action now centres around the No 1, even the word ‘cup’ has been cut, and you’d be hard pressed to discover the spirit base. 

I’m afraid as far as I’m concerned it’s never Pimm’s o’clock as every ounce of aspiration and essence of what made this drink so special has been eradicated.

And that’s progress? I wouldn’t mind quite so much if companies were more upfront when it comes to alcoholic strength. I remember well when I realised something had happened to Pimm’s. It was the summer of 1992 when I was walking back up the garden path to open a second bottle, as the four of us present were still upright and not at all ‘Pimmsed’.  A closer inspection of the bottle soon revealed the reason. 

I was so disappointed.

But I suspect the average punter does not understand or even bother with the alcohol strength – after all, it’s difficult enough for a consumer to understand the nuances of Scotch when it comes to blended as well as single malts and the meaning of an age statement thereon – but at least here there are ongoing education campaigns to put them in the picture. 

While the industry is happy to advertise the importance of  these ‘age matters’ it is shy when it comes to ‘strength matters’ because I’m sure there would be a lot of changes in buying habits if consumers were better informed. 

That said, all these producing companies are signed up to drink responsibly campaigns and rightly too. So surely it is crucial the consumer should be better informed about the alcoholic content of his or her favourite tipple.