This is one of the three drinks I made for Jesse’s Pastry Party to celebrate her graduation from Pastry School in San Francisco.

On its own, the name “The Weak One” makes little sense. It would be better to call it the Light One or the Fresh One, but those names don’t flow quite as well when book-ended by the Sweet One and the Strong One. Really, it’s no weaker than anything else, but the idea with this drink was to provide something fresh, light and palate cleansing. Knowing it was going to be hot and some of the pastries were going to be very rich (mmmmmmm… gateau basque), I thought this would be a popular middle ground choice that would pair well the sweet and buttery.
I’m becoming a big fan of this slicing-up and macerating (mashing) fresh ingredients -although in this drink there’s nothing too novel about cucumber, mint and lime. But I have been trying more summer seasonal fruits and vegetables lately to great effect. It brings cocktails further into the culinary realm, makes them part of the cooking instead of something that comes before and after. When you think about it, the range of flavors and the flexibility in strength, sweetness, acidity, etc… make these kind of drinks better suited for food pairing than wine. Well, not always better, but new, exciting and challenging at least.

The Weak One
In a heavy glass…
1/4 lime
2 Cucumber round slices
6 large mint leaves
1/2 oz simple syrup
2 oz Basil-infused Gin
2 oz Club Soda

Mash the cucumber, mint, lime and sugar syrup in the bottom of a heavy glass (for about a minute). Add the gin, pour into a shaker with ice and shake well. Strain with a cocktail strainer (and mesh strainer of you want no pulp) into a highball glass. Add club soda and two cracked ice cubes, garnish with a stalk of mint.

I wanted to do as much advanced prep as I could with all the drinks, but this one has to be macerated fresh per drink – no way around that. So it was a bit more work but well worth it. I did end up increasing the sugar as the night went on – to just under 1 oz, because there was so much sweetness that this was a little jarring to the palate.