Cucumber Gin Cooler
Gin, muddled cucumber, lime, sugar and soda over ice. A tall, green, cooling drink that tastes of the garden and makes the most of a cucumber-leaning gin.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Add the cucumber slices, lime juice and syrup to a shaker and muddle until the cucumber is well crushed.
Add the gin (and mint, if using), fill with ice, and shake for 10 seconds.
Double strain into a collins glass filled with ice and top with soda.
Stir once and garnish with a cucumber ribbon.
A thoughtful finish
- Muddle the cucumber properly — it needs to give up its juice, unlike mint, which should barely be bruised.
- Peel the cucumber if the skin is thick or waxed; the skin can turn the drink bitter.
- Add mint and drop the soda for the Eastside, served up. It is the same drink in a different coat.
Common mistakes
- Shaking the cucumber unmuddled; it stays whole and the drink tastes of nothing.
- Skipping the fine strain, which leaves cucumber pulp in the glass.
- Too much syrup. Cucumber is sweet enough on its own.
A few good questions.
What does it taste like?
Fresh, green and cooling: cucumber's watery sweetness against lime and juniper, lengthened with soda. The most refreshing gin drink after a Rickey.
Which gin?
A cucumber-led gin doubles down on the theme; a classic London dry gives more juniper to push against the cucumber. Both are good.
What is an Eastside?
Gin, lime, sugar, cucumber and mint, shaken and served up with no soda — the Milk & Honey version from around 2004.
Can I make it alcohol-free?
Cucumber, lime, a little sugar and soda is an excellent soft drink and is this recipe without the gin.
Variations
- Tom Collins — Gin, lemon, sugar and soda.
- Gin Rickey — Gin, lime and soda, no sugar.
- Gimlet — Gin, lime and sugar, up.
- Gin Basil Smash — Gin, lemon and basil.
Where it comes from
c. 2000s · United Kingdom and United States
Contested. More than one origin is claimed for this drink. We show the competing accounts rather than pick one.
Cucumber and gin have been paired since Pimm’s put the slice in the glass, and when a Scottish gin built its whole identity on cucumber and rose in 1999, bartenders had every reason to muddle the vegetable into a Collins. The Cucumber Gin Cooler — and its many names, Cucumber Collins, Garden Collins, Eastside with mint — has no inventor and no fixed recipe; it is a sour lengthened with soda and greened with cucumber, and every bar with a summer menu has one. The Eastside, from Milk & Honey in New York around 2004, is the best-documented relative.
Sources
- Robert Simonson, A Proper Drink, 2016 (book)
- Difford's Guide, Cucumber Collins, 2015 (reference)
- Dale DeGroff, The Essential Cocktail, 2008 (book)
Strength. About 1.47 US standard drinks at an estimated 14.2% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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