Last fall, we ventured to FIG Restaurant for a friend’s birthday occasion while she was in town. It was a life-changing experience that set Jamey’s and my foodie interests in motion, and it still remains to be the best meal we’ve eaten in Charleston. (How’s that for a weighty endorsement?)

We also mixed a lot of drinks last summer (including my Buxton margs, which I guarantee will make an appearance sometime soon). Yet again, nothing kicked off our venture into mixology more than the garden sour that accompanied the meal at FIG.

With the sun sky high and temperatures at more than 80 degrees, this past weekend was the ideal opportunity for a taste of summer. So it is without further ado that I present to you how Jamey and Claire make a garden sour.

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber
• 1 lime
• Vodka
• Simple syrup (Jamey made this on the stove, and we just have the leftovers in a water bottle in our fridge. It’s fairly convenient.)

Start with one large cucumber. Peel and slice. We switched to the mortar and pestle for this one, but have used the Magic Bullet in the past. (I know, it’s still shocking how useful that thing is from time to time.) In this case, it’s always easier to make the mix if you have more finely chopped cucumbers to get as much juice out of them as possible.

Cut open a lime. Squeeze the juice out as much as you possibly can over the cucumber. The limier it is, the more of a bite the drink will have.

Mortar and pestle time! Start smashing the cucumbers to get all the juices flowing.

Jamey took a picture of me to show that I am doing something, so of course I happen to be wearing a dress with slippers.

After a sufficient amount of smashing and pestle-grinding, (and really, you could do this even more finely than the mush in this picture), pour the cucumber-lime mush into the shaker.

Now add one part vodka…

One part simple syrup…

and close it up and give it a shake (or 30).

After a sufficient amount of shaking, pour the mix into your favorite cocktail glasses. (*Note: we need to add martini glasses to the registry.)

At this point, it’s good to take a swig before you pour all the drinks to see if the vodka/cucumber/lime/simple syrup balance tickles your fancy. We ended up going back and adding more lime, which topped off the drink perfectly.

Voila. If these drinks had a lime garnish, the photo would be perfect. Another option is to line the rim with sugar, but we didn’t get that fancy.

Let us know if you try the recipe!