BY JIM MEEHAN
Fresh, ginger, mint, spice
A wild drink that pairs well with spicy chicken thighs, black beans and rice, or squash curry.
Jim Meehan created this elegant quaffer while at New York’s PDT, a speakeasy hidden behind a hot dog stand. It’s something like a mix between Audrey Saunder’s gingery GinGin Mule (page 133) and a drink by Sam Ross called the Kentucky Maid, which combines bourbon and cucumber. For cocktail geeks, it’s the equivalent of a jackalope. This particular Maid is a perfect excuse to whip up a batch of homemade ginger beer and slay the unruly mint taking over your garden.
1½ ounces (45 ml) Hine VSOP cognac
¼ ounce (7 ml) John D. Taylor’s Velvet Falernum
1 ounce (30 ml) ginger beer (page 247)
¾ ounce (22 ml) fresh lime juice
¾ ounce (22 ml) simple syrup (page 241)
4 cucumber wheels, divided
6 to 8 mint leaves, plus mint sprig, for garnish
In a shaker, muddle simple syrup, 3 cucumber wheels, and the mint leaves. Add everything else and shake with ice, then strain into a chilled highball filled with ice. Garnish with a mint sprig threaded through the center of a cucumber wheel.