Gin Garden Martini

If you have an herb garden, you are probably noticing that most of the herbs do not like the colder temperatures we have been getting at night. If your mint is still thriving like mine is, you can use it in this cocktail! I recently enjoyed this at the Mountain View Grand, so I am not sure what gin they used. Feel free to use any herbal gin in this cocktail. But, if you are lucky enough to get your hands on a bottle of Tamworth Distillery Garden Gin or a local herbal gin, that would be a fantastic choice!

Ingredients:

2 oz Hendricks Gin or your favorite local herbal gin

1 oz lime juice

1/2-1 oz simple syrup

Splash of soda water or seltzer

Small handful of fresh mint

Cucumber slices

Muddle the mint and 3 cucumber slices with the lime juice in the bottom of a shaker. Add ice, gin and the simple syrup. Shake until really cold. Strain into a martini glass, top with seltzer or soda water and garnish with a cucumber wheel.

There is a range of simple syrup so you can add an amount based on the sweetness that you like. It is a trend to cut down on sugar right now, and you can certainly make this with no simple syrup if you prefer. In that case, add an additional 1 oz of Gin and more soda water. I have seen seltzer with cucumber essence. If you can find a bottle of that it will really accentuate the cucumber flavor!