Holy hell. What a week. I spent the first half of the week roasting in 90 plus degree Chicago. It was an insanely fun trip with old college roommates, but walking around the city that hot was less than ideal. We spent a good chunk of time jumping from bar to bar to stay cool. It finally cooled down on the last day we were there, and wen we landed back in Boston, it was back up to 90 degrees again. Super fun, I know. Needing a cooling drink this week I took inspiration from some leftover cucumbers I had, and knowing that gin tends to play well with cucumbers, I went looking for, and found an awesome sounding drink called The Gordon’s Cup. Given the ingredient list, it sounds pretty amazing.

Gordon’s Cup
2 oz. gin
0.75 oz. lime juice
0.75 oz. simple syrup
3-4 cucumber slices
1-2 coin of lime skin, sliced thinly off the fruit
Salt
Pepper

Combine gin, lime, simple syrup, and cucumber slices, and lime coins in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake hard for six to eight seconds and fine strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Add lime wedges and/or cucumber slices to the glass, sprinkle a pinch or two of salt and pepper on top, stir to combine.

There is a pronounced gin forward nose. I get some light notes of cucumber in there too, I opted for 4 slices of cucumber to maximize the flavor, I wanted the best chance to stand up to the gin.

This is a perfect summer drink. It’s extremely light and refreshing. The lime believe it or not is the first flavor I can pick up when I taste it. Only the best parts though. The flavor comes through without it becoming sour from the lime. We can thank the simple syrup for that. Of which, the sweetness of the syrup lasts longer than than the lime does, so it does get ever so slightly sweet for my liking. However, when having more of this, the pepper kicks in a little bit to bring a little bit of a spicy zing to the drink, and that helps check the simple syrup.

The finish is a continuation of the bright, refreshing slightly sweet but peppery flavors. I think I need to adjust the amount of salt and pepper up a touch just to help offset the simple syrup. That might be the move rather than adjusting the simple syrup down. The risk there is that could allow for too much lime sourness to filter through and throw off the balance. Either way, given how fuck ass hot this weather has been lately, this drink is just what the doctor ordered to keep one cool during this nonsense.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)