What you notice when you drink Pimm’s Winter Cup (ie what in my youth we called the No.3 Cup: the Brandy Cup) is how much it tastes like Pimm’s. You know Pimm’s No.1 (the Gin based cup). There is a slightly more warming edge to it, but that could well be due to the fact that it has been mixed with ginger ale. And you would imagine Ginger doing the warming.
Whilst the bouze might be the key ingredient in Pimm’s, it is the bitters in there which give it its distinctive flavour. After all, can you really taste the gin in the No.1 cup? All credit to them for the brand extension though, it fills a nice hole in the market: I just wonder how much different it would taste if you mixed your summer Pimm’s with ginger ale?