2 x Delicious Cucumber Cocktails!

I hear you've been looking for a couple of cucumber cocktails. I've got a couple of beauties in store for you. Let's get straight to the drinks. First up we're infusing our gin with cucumber. So you can measure if you like or you can do it really roughly. Add some cucumber and add some gin into a blender. Alternatively you could use an ISI cream whipper and use a little NOS canister and incorporate it that way but blending it just as easy and no doubt everyone if not most people will have a blender at home. I'll do it this way so you can see that it's very easy and approachable. The recipe I'm following is on imbibemagazine.com it does say that this will store for three months. I'm a little bit skeptical about having cucumber in gin even though it's fortified with a spirit that's a 40% give or take. I don't know cucumber unless you really finely strain it and get everything out of there then I don't know about three months but who knows maybe give it a blend. Probably should have sealed it a little bit tighter. I like the look of this and you want to strain it pretty well. I'm going to regret even attempting to use a coffee filter because it's going to take ages and i'm very impatient but i'll try anyway and then i'll probably change my mind. So i'm running it through a tea strainer or a fine strainer first to get the larger chunks which will help speed up the process otherwise if you're just running straight through the coffee filter then it'll take forever. I wish I had a little bit of ascorbic acid and I'd probably put that into the the cucumber infused gin because then it'll help retain that color. I feel like this will oxidize relatively quickly and the color will change pretty fast. That's an assumption. I haven't made cucumber gin before in The color is so good. Awesome. We wait. That's a juicy cucumber. This recipe is um it's a gimlet essentially a cucumber and ginger gimlet. I didn't even mention the name of this drink it's um Don't be naive. Don't be naive aka cucumber and ginger gimlet. Now the and it's kind of like a not a deconstructed but it's a inspired by an asian salad because we've also got uh sesame in there too. Cucumber gin one and a half ounces 45 ml. Smells nice and fresh. Fresh lime juice three quarters of an ounce 22.5 ml. Then we have the sweetener. I'm using Liber and Co's ginger syrup. Nice and fiery. Got some spice to it. The original recipe does call for three quarter ounce but no doubt that's based on like a one one syrup. This is probably closer to a two to one a rich syrup so therefore i'll lower it down from three quarter ounce to half an ounce 22.5 ml and that should balance out the drink nicely. Cucumber and ginger. Ice and shake. That one's just about to go everywhere. Cream chewy glass if you like. I'm being lazy today. Double strain and here's the fun part. Do i attempt to do single drops out of this bottle. Now sesame oil is a very strong flavor so you do not want to pour too much. A couple of drops one two three six drops. Oh the nose on that sesame oil is wild. I do like the look of the sesame oil sitting on top. It floats really nicely because it's it's very viscous it just sits on top perfectly. Nice contrast with the the very faint foam sitting there and there's real nuttiness on the nose. Don't be naive. Cheers. Oh that Liber & Co ginger syrup comes through really nice and fiery even though it's only got half an ounce in there. Probably could do with a tiny bit more because it's really quite limey. It's really zesty. I was close to getting the balance right but just a touch more of the syrup will be uh favorable. Unless you like your drinks really zesty it still works. I think that bright zestiness from the the lime juice actually helps combat the overpowering nature of the sesame oil. Really interesting drink and it's all because of the sesame oil and a hundred percent it does remind me of like an asian salad. Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa I'm sorry guys but I have to interrupt for a second because Pa Steve is doing a woeful job. He seems to be waffling on about the zestiness of his first cocktail and has completely forgotten about today's video sponsor Z Bionics. Z Bionics is a pre-alcohol probiotic drink. When you drink alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the stomach and it's this byproduct not the dehydration that makes you feel bad the next day. Z Bionics produces an enzyme to break down this byproduct. Just remember to drink Z Bionics before you go out drinking alcohol. Don't drink to excess and get a good night's rest and you'll feel great the next day. Let's be honest guys I'm no spring chicken anymore. I turned 40 last November and therefore I make sure I look after myself. I hit the gym regularly, I eat healthy and I consume far less alcohol than I once did. So if you want to indulge in a few cocktails and feel great the next day make sure you drink Z Bionics before drinking. My mouth is still watering from the ginger in that last cocktail but let's step it up a notch and make this one a little bit more spicy. We are going to start with rimming our glass with a chili salt. I've made this chili salt myself just equal parts of dried chilies and salt and put it through a spice blender. Simple as that or you can buy some if you're feeling lazy. That is a pretty woeful looking rim but can't win them all am i right. Right set my glass aside and let's prepare the drink. This one's going to be garnished in addition to the salt rim just with a slice of cucumber then we'll slice a few more throw them in the tin and give it a muddle. Now this drink's called the El Pepino which is spanish for the cucumber and I mean if you looked at the ingredients you've guessed it it's a spicy cucumber margarita. El Pepino one and a half ounces 45 ml of tequila. I'm using La Luna Tequilana I don't think it's officially able to be called a tequila it's using the same like agave species but I think this is classed as a mezcal. I was trying to clarify I'm pretty sure it is like and as far as flavor goes it's made in a traditional mezcal production style so therefore it retains more of that earthy vegetal smokiness so there's a lot more character to it than say uh most blanco tequilas. So I think it works nicely but uh yeah I don't think it's technically a tequila. So to that this I gotta add this recipe does call for muddled jalapenos as well but just the other week made a chili extract which is fiery so I thought I'd use that instead of um mainly because I don't have any jalapenos but more so because this has a really good flavor. So I'm going to put two generous dashes which should make pretty spicy. I measure out one ounce 30 ml of fresh lime juice, spicy cucumber margarita and three quarters of an ounce 22.5 ml of chef's choice agave syrup. That's it, nice shake, transfer to the glass come on more ice than that. Now to make my extract I have used a percolator which is an open top funnel. I'll leave a link to one in the description below so you can have a look at it. So most people aren't going to have a percolator at home to be able to make a extract and an extract is essentially a strong tincture and a tincture is just a fancy word for saying ethanol and spice macerated together. That's a that's a terrible explanation. A tincture is a single flavored um it's like bitters but with one it's one dimensional it's single flavor. I am woeful at explaining this I'm sorry. If you would like to recreate this but you don't have a percolator then add five parts of ethanol to one part chili. Chili extracts very very quickly in ethanol so you probably only need to sit it for 24 hours if that and it'll extract really well then strain it out and you'll have a chili tincture. Chili extract just stronger than a tincture. Oh i got there badly. Double strain into your glass that's a nice drink it's a good looking drink I like this it's quite nice. Drop a cucumber slice in there you have the el pepino. I think I put an italian twist on it then el pepino but it's it's spanish I apologize. So cocktail number two that is definitely set to make your mouth water the el pepino. Oh there comes a spice it's quite sweet with that much agave it still works I'm really enjoying the use of la luna tequilana that sways or is more it is a mezcal so you get more of that mezcal inherent smokiness. Let's try it without the salt oh that's a good good margarita. I like how you've got the the contrasting properties you've got the spice from the chili salt you know that saltiness you've got cooling cucumber you've got chili in the drink you've got acidic lime there's so much going on you've got the sweet there's all these different flavors and mouthfeels going on mouthfeels there's so many flavors going on that uh it makes it pack oh my god I'm failing it packs a punch it's flavorsome. I don't know what happened with today's video but I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you soon I will see you soon for another cocktail video cheers oh what happened