Back From Hiatus

I apologize for the recent posting dry spell. To make it up to those who drink well, I'm bringing you two consecutive postings. Enjoy.

The first is to introduce an original of mine. Let's call it the "Gimdom Cuke", paying homage to it's resemblance to a gimlet laced with a healthy dose of the fantastically herbal Bénédictine, and rounded out with the currently ever-so-trendy (yet still worthwhile) inclusion of cucumber. The dom, of course, is a reference to the initials D.O.M. which grace the bottle, and which stand for "Deo Optimo Maximo" roughly translated as "To God, most good, most great". Sorry, I needed to get something out of my classics degree. I hope I made my professors proud. Poor Latin translations aside, it is quite a tasty and well balanced drink.

Gimdom Cuke

1 1/2 oz gin
3/4 oz lime juice
3/4 oz Bénédictine
3-4 heaping tablespoons cucumber (don't use the skin though)

Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.

For a more gimmicky gimdom cuke, feel free to exaggerate the cuke-ness by substituting for the cocktail glass, a vessel carved from the cucumber itself. Simply slice off one tip, close enough to the end that there will be no seeded portions for the drink to slowly drip through. This will be the base of the glass, which will end up shaped vaguely like a Collins glass. If you wish to make a cucumber stemmed glass, no such slice is needed. Merely, take the cucumber and very carefully stab the bottom with a plastic (or glass) stem. The next step is to decide how tall you would like your glass. At this point, slice off the rest of the cucumber. Use a knife or spoon to carefully hollow out an appropriately sized section of the cucumber. The flesh that you've scooped out should be more than sufficient for the cucumber which will be used as an ingredient. Be sure to not puncture, even in the slightest, through the bottom of the glass. This is a surprisingly easy mistake to make during your first time creating this glass.

Whether you use the gimmicky glass outlined here, a standard cocktail glass, or even throw the libation into a rocks glass, be sure to thoroughly enjoy it -- and to thank God for giving us those nice monks who make our booze. Amen.