Rosé Cucumber Cocktail

I love summer. The tomatoes, the long, bright evenings, the breeze as the sun finally sets. I especially love cucumbers, how mildly sweet and refreshing and cool they manage to taste at nearly any temperature. Those qualities make them an ideal ingredient in a summer refresher.

This recipe, born of a surplus of cucumbers from our weekly CSA box and a fresh bottle of rosé from our semi-regular wine deliveries, comes together easily and tastes incredibly refreshing. Make a batch of cucumber juice and you'll be happily drinking these for a week.

The other wonderful thing here is that if you have all these ingredients, you can recombine them with rum, with watermelon juice, with sweet or dry vermouth instead of rosé, with Aperol, with fresh mint instead of basil, to make a whole stable of subtle variations on the same refreshing theme.

You could make this with fresh orange juice instead of triple sec, if you wish. It wouldn't hurt. If you don't have a dry rosé on hand, substitute sweet. Or use a sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio. Anything bright and a little acidic, with minimal sugar. You could also use one of those fancy rosé or cucumber flavored botanical vodkas, if you're so inclined.

Or, if you're like me, you could sub aged rum for the gin, for a darker, fruitier note.

What I'm proposing here is more a theory of cocktails, I suppose, than a recipe, but this particular permutation is a standout. I know that I'm asking for a lot of work with the fine mesh strainer and blender for the cucumber juice, but I promise the results are worth it. You might even find yourself drinking it straight from the fridge after a workout, if you're in your own home and no one is going to see you, or adding a splash to a glass of iced sparkling water. Really, once you've made it, it's yours to do with as you see fit. Happy toasting.

Recipe: Cucumber Rosé Cocktail

• 2 oz gin

• 3 oz dry rose

• 1.5 oz campari

• 1 oz triple sec

• 4 oz cucumber juice (recipe follows)

• basil leaves, to garnish

1. Combine all ingredients except basil over ice in a pint glass or cocktail shaker.

2. Stir until freezing cold, about 45 seconds.

3. Strain into two glasses.

4. With basil leaves in the palm of one hand, clap loudly. This releases their oils and scares your dog.

5. Garnish each cocktail with a basil leaf.

Recipe: Cucumber Juice

• 3 cucumbers

• 1/4 cup water (or more, depending on how your blender grabs)

• juice of 1/2 small lime, or 1/4 large lime, if desired

1. Peel cucumbers and roughly chop into about 1 inch chunks.

2. Add cucumbers and water to jar of blender.

3. Blend on low to medium-low, tamping cucumbers into the blades, until everything has been broken down into pulp. If it doesn't grab, drizzle a little more water into blender.

4. Pass through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing pulp against the sides of the strainer to wring water out, and transfer to a bottle or tupperware.

5. Add lime juice and stir.