In my attempt to get to better know St-Germain Elderflower liqueur I went on a hunt for recipes far and wide at one point landing squarely and confidently on Michael Dietsch’s ‘The Flying Cucumber‘ which he posted at his blog, A Dash of Bitters, many months ago. I was attracted to this recipe for various and sundry reasons, among them:

• Cucumber….goooood
• Elderflower liqueur…looking for a better use for this puppy
• Gin. duh.
• Sort of a modified Aviation.
• Reminds me of these folks

At the time I had this drink, I was having a terrible time finding a consistently good use for St-Germain, and while I’ve found a few other drinks that use it well, it still remains problematic for me. I find its body a bit too heavy and tacky¹ and while it’s not exactly sweet it is a very powerful ingredient that I find easily overpowers most drinks. It’s exceptionally good in a a champagne glass (with the champagne mind you) and adding a half ounce of it to a dry champagne or even a prosecco adds a wonderful floral quality. The only other full-blown cocktail in which I’ve seen it really play well and blend harmoniously with others is the Crescent City Blossom, which received a 3rd place tie at last year’s Tales of the Cocktails competition. It uses a full ounce, which was mind-blowing to me when seeing the recipe, but that’s for another post. For now, on to The Flying Cucumber.

The Flying Cucumber

• 2 oz gin²
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1/4 oz St-Germain Elderflower liqueur

Muddle two slices of cucumber in a mixing glass and then add ingredients. Shake over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with cucumber slices or strips of peel.

There were two things that just didn’t come together and agree with me in this drink: the texture and the thin flavor profile. I had an interesting experience recently where, after a lapse of about 6 months, I made a Corpse Reviver #2 and found it completely lacking in the ‘pizazz’ department. Now, if you go back and read that post, I freaking loved me some Corpse Reviver #2. So, what happened? It may be that my palate is moving more in the direction of vibrant and flavorful or it may be that the lemon/gin combo I used this particular time didn’t work, but I found the same problem here; it just laid down on the tongue without any punch or fight.

The texture issue may have been my fault as, in my zesty love for cucumber, I muddled some pretty fat-assed slices to make sure I got that cucumbery goodness out of it. When I make this again I’m going to scale that back a tad as it seems to have added a certain graininess to the drink. I have a hunch that feeling like you’re slurping a bit of cellulose with your cocktail isn’t the idea. Also, I would use English cucumbers next time as they tend to be a little less mealy.

To be fair, my wife really enjoyed this drink and prefers it to the Aviation. But, she married me and so obviously discounts her judgement immediately. In all seriousness though, I think there’s a heck of a good drink here and using a robust gin³ , the right sized cucumber slices, and maybe, maybe, a touch more Elderflower liqueur-this could prove disastrous-will put it on my home bar’s summer rotation. Of course, I could always just throw in a dash or three of Peychaud’s bitters and call it done…actually, that’s not a half-bad idea either. One additional note about the gin, I thought at first, lacking Miller’s, that Hendrick’s, what with its hearty pronouncement of its unique inclusion of cucumber in its infusion, would be a natural choice for this drink. Avoid that instinct. Hendrick’s is too light for this application and will only add to the fatigue this version of the drink suffered from.

My hats off to Michael for providing a drink that incorporates cucumber as I’d been looking for one an awfully long time and simply wasn’t brave enough to make the plunge or decide on the counterparts to the gin to make it work and Elderflower liqueur is an inspired choice. Now to make it with Miller’s and a few of the adjustments above and hopefully avoid some of what made this drink less than spectacular on my first try.

The Flying Cucumber⁴ Rating:

1. I just didn’t feel like using the word ‘cloying’ here [↩]
2. Michael recommends Martin Miller’s but I used Blackwood’s as I didn’t have Miller’s at the time [↩]
3. and I have Miller’s now so I may be retrying this with that involved as well [↩]
4. cocktailnerd version 1.0 [↩]