cou-cou-comber

1 1/2 oz Vodka (Barr Hill)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1 tsp Pernod (Herbsaint)
1 tsp Simple Syrup (1/4 oz)

Shake with ice and strain into a hollowed-out cucumber placed into a receptacle to hold it vertical. Drink with a straw and eat the cucumber as you go.

With the second cucumber from my garden, I decided to make a classic Tiki drink that had always caught my eye. The recipe did not call for cucumber juice like the Irma La Douce, cucumber syrup like the White Buddha, or muddled cucumber like in the Hole in Cup, but it utilized the cucumber as the drinking vessel. That drink was the Cou-Cou-Comber created by Joe Scialom of Suffering Bastard fame while at the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, circa 1959. Otherwise, the drink inside was a simple Vodka Gimlet elevated by herbal notes from pastis as laid out in Beachbum Berry's Sippin' Safari.
The cucumber certainly contributed to the nose along with the anise from the Herbsaint and mint and peppery floral aromas from my garnishes. Next, the lime dominated the sip, and the swallow followed along with the aroma (minus the garnishes) with cucumber and anise flavors. I could not help but think that a white rum, gin, or agave spirit would work wonders here, but I kept true to the recipe with the vodka and let the other flavors sing out.