Hendrick's Recipe

Prepare glass

If using dry vermouth, pour 0.25 oz dry vermouth into the chilled glass, swirl to coat the inside, then discard or lightly rinse out the excess. Chill the glass in the freezer or fill with ice while you prepare the cocktail.

Muddle cucumber

In a cocktail shaker, add the 3 fresh cucumber slices and the simple syrup. Gently muddle 6–8 times until cucumber releases juice but not completely pulverized—you're extracting fresh cucumber flavor to complement the Hendrick's.

Build and shake

Add Hendrick's Gin (2 oz), fresh lemon juice (0.5 oz), ice (about 1 cup or enough to fill the shaker), and the muddled cucumber with syrup into the shaker. Secure the lid and shake vigorously for 12–15 seconds until the shaker is chilled and slightly frosty.

Double strain

Discard ice from the chilled glass if you used it to chill. Double strain the cocktail into the chilled coupe or martini glass using a Hawthorne strainer and a fine mesh strainer to remove cucumber solids and small ice shards. This yields a clean, silk-textured drink.

Garnish the cocktail with a cucumber wheel or a thin cucumber ribbon draped inside the glass and finish with a lemon twist expressed over the drink to release oils, then drop or rest it on the rim. Serve immediately.