Watermelon-Cucumber Refresher

So, as I mentioned last time, I received a copy of DIY Cocktails to review. The book is full of beautiful drinks and flipping through the pages, the list of things I wanted to try grew exponentially. We loved the piña coladas, but why stop there when there are so many other things to try? The problem is that Joseph isn’t much of mixed drink drinker, in part because he has a hard time not chugging anything in front of him. The man just drinks (and eats) everything so fast you’d think it was his last drink (or meal) on earth and it’s kind of a problem when there’s hard liquor involved.

But when I booked my tickets to Athens, OH to visit my sister and brother-in-law, I knew I was going to the right people to test out this book with. Those two know how to enjoy a good drink! And let me tell you, they were eager to try some drinks out, you know, for the good of the blog and all.

The first drink that we decided on was the watermelon-cucumber refresher. I’ve been really into cucumber drinks ever since indulging in copious amounts of cucumber water (just water with lots of cucumber in it) at the spa where we got all gussied up for my sister’s wedding a few years ago. It’s just so refreshing! And the thought of adding watermelon and some vodka to the mix sounded like the perfect way to celebrate having nothing to do but sit on the porch on a hot afternoon and catch up with some of my favorite people.

My biggest gripe with the recipe was that there were no exact amounts given. Instead, the authors wrote the recipe in ratios and I was feeling a little clueless as to how much to make. Luckily my brother-in-law is better versed in mixology than I, but we still had no idea how much of the watermelon-cucumber-mint juice to make. We ended up with way too much of the juice mixture, but that worked out just fine because we found that we liked the drink with extra juice. Use up extra juice by making more of these delightful drinks, or just add to your seltzer for a non-alcoholic refresher.

Coming up soon, two more drinks from DIY Cocktails (including my new favorite drink) and a giveaway!

Print Recipe

Cucumber Watermelon Refresher #

Adapted from DIY Cocktails

I’ve added the quantities that we used in parentheses. The original recipe calls for only one part watermelon-cucumber-mint juice and I’ve doubled it here because we liked it with extra juice. I encourage you to play around with the amount to see how you like it.

Ingredients

• 3 parts (3 ounces) vodka

• 1 part (1 ounce) triple sec

• 2 parts (2 ounces) watermelon-cucumber-mint juice

• 1 part (1 ounce) lime juice

Instructions #

1. Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake for about 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cucumber slice and sprig of mint or slice of watermelon.

Number of servings (yield): 1

Watermelon-Cucumber-Mint Juice #

You can halve or even quarter this if you’re not making that many drinks and you don’t want extra juice for seltzer or other tasty treats.

Ingredients #

• 2 parts (2 cups) chopped watermelon

• 1 part (1 cup) peeled and chopped cucumber

• 2 sprigs of mint

Instructions #

1. Blend all ingredients together and strain through fine-mesh strainer.

Yield: 1 cup