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Yesterday we met Boots Byrd, the awesomely-named Chatty Cathy who serves up drinks and manages the bar at St. Francis. Today he shares with us the recipe for one of his original creations that graces the restaurant’s menu: the Cucumber Cooler.
The cocktail’s made with Hendricks gin, a liquor whose backstory Byrd is only too eager to share. “What’s cool about it is it’s the only gin made in Scotland, and it’s not boiled in the pot distillers — they actually just do a vapor steam bath, so the distillers are putting a little more care into what they’re doing,” he says. “They also infuse it with rose petal and cucumbers.”
It’s an extremely fresh and inviting cocktail, with a smooth blend of relaxed cucumber flavors and tart lemon juice dancing about the palate while a touch of simple syrup cuts through the gin flavor. Plus, it smells amazing. Cucumbers — who knew?
get the recipe after the jump
The ingredients:
3 slices cucumber
2 wedges lemon
2 oz. Hendricks Gin
Splash simple syrup
Lemonade to fill
How to make it:
In a bucket glass, muddle the cucumbers and squeeze in the juice of the two lemons, tossing one and leaving the other in the glass. Add a splash of simple syrup and the gin. Add ice. Fill with lemonade, shake and pour all the ingredients into a rocks glass. Garnish with a slice of cuke on the rim.
