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Artesian Spring Cocktail

The Artesian Spring Cocktail was developed for my wife, Stefanie. It combines mint, cucumber, gin and Cynar, an Italian artichoke flavored aperitif (her favorite). This drink is a bit of a pain in the ass to make… it involves several shakers and quite a few ingredients. In other words, it’s perfect for her.

Artesian Spring Cocktail

1.5 oz. Gin

.75 oz. Cynar

.75 oz. Lime juice

1 tsp. sugar

.25 tsp. salt*

2 oz. peeled, seeded cucumber

3 drops Angostura

1 drop Rose Water

2 oz. Cucumber Foam

A Few mint leaves

Combine the cucumber and salt in a shaker and muddle thoroughly to extract as much juice from the cucumber as possible. Add the lime juice, sugar and mint (all but one small leaf) and muddle a bit more, just trying to extract the oils from the mint. Add the gin and Cynar, along with some cracked ice, and shake well. Serve up in a fancy glass, add a dollop of cucumber foam, drop the Angostura and rose water on the foam, and garnish with a mint leaf.

Cucumber Foam

2 oz. peeled, seeded cucumber

.75 oz. lime juice

1 tsp. sugar

.75 oz. egg white

Combine lime juice and cucumber in a bar glass and muddle to extract as much flavor from the cucumber as possible. Strain out the lime juice, and combine in a shaker with egg white and sugar. Shake this thoroughly for a few minutes. I’ve seen a bartender add a spring from a strainer to the shaker, which helps emulsify the foam. Or, if you’re fancy, you could just use an ISI canister.

*The salt in this cocktail seems like a weird twist, but it really merges the flavors of the mint, citrus and cucumber. It’s not overpowering – just enough to enhance the flavors.

Posted on March 22, 2009 at 4:58 pm
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