Tzatziki Cocktail

This post contains affiliate links: As an Amazon Associate I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

In this Tzatziki inspired cocktail, cucumber brings freshness to the palate, while dill evokes grassy herbal notes of early springtime.

Gin is the backbone of this cocktail, but a hint of chartreuse really brings depth while whole fat Greek yogurt rounds out the flavor and texture of this cocktail.

You’ll need the following equipment:

Ingredients:

London Dry Gin
Green Chartreuse
Lime
Greek Yogurt
Dill
Cucumber
White Sugar

While I was developing this recipe, I wanted something to evoke that crisp fresh air of early spring, and also the grassy herbal smell of fresh vegetation growing.

Cucumbers bring that perfect fresh and crisp element, while dill lends a nice grassy and herbal kick. Since dill can be quite a powerful flavor, I am also adding some Greek yogurt to mellow out the cocktail.

For the base spirit, nothing says spring quite like Gin. It embodies all the fresh and botanical notes I am looking for to compliment the flavors of dill and cucumber. For a little extra herbal note, I am also including green chartreuse, and to balance out the sweetness, as well as some lime juice for a touch of acidity.

Instead of infusing the cucumber and dill into the gin, I decided to go another route to incorporating these flavors.

Since alcohol is such a strong solvent, the more bitter flavor components of the dill and cucumber would also be infused. Using water is a much more gentle way to extract the lighter fresher flavor compounds from these herbs and vegetables.

To preserve the freshness of the dill and cucumber, I will be making this simple syrup a bit differently- instead of adding the fresh ingredients to the hot water and sugar, I am going to cold steep the ingredients first, then add sugar to make a simple syrup.
First I’m going to slice a cucumber into rounds. I am going to leave the peel on to give it a bit more flavor.
Then I will add them straight into my water pitcher.
After I’ve added the cucumber, I will grab a few dill sprigs and add them to the pitcher as well. Next, I will fill my pitcher with water and let this infuse in the fridge for a minimum of four hours to extract the flavors.

While that infuses, It's time to make a rich simple syrup, which is made by dissolving sugar into water at a 2:1 ratio. For example, I am using a half cup of sugar, and a quarter cup of water. I’ll add them to a pan and heat over medium low heat until the sugar dissolves.

Once all of the sugar has dissolved, let the syrup cool, then transfer to a container and let cool completely in the refrigerator.
After my water has infused, I’ll pour half of it into an ice cube tray and put it to freeze.

These infused ice cubes will ensure the beautiful fresh flavors won’t be lost once the ice melts and the drink dilutes.

After the water has infused and the rich simple syrup has cooled, I’ll add a 1/4 cup of the infused water to the cold simple syrup- mine needed a bit more flavor, so I proceeded to add another 1/4 cup of the infused water. To be honest, I had hoped for a stronger cucumber and dill flavor. Its there, but its very mild.

I am glad I made ice cubes with the infused water to bring more of that fresh flavor into the cocktail.

Before I start building the cocktail, I wanted to prep the garnish, since it is a bit labor intensive. I’ve seen this woven cucumber garnish a couple times on instagram and I think it's just so cute, and perfect for the season.

To make this garnish, its best to build it on top of a piece of parchment paper. I started by cutting my cucumber in half and peeling off the green outer layer, then continued to peel the cucumber into 6 strips. I then cut each strip in half.

Then I started by laying two cucumber pieces perpendicular to each other. Each subsequent piece I would alternate laying over or under the bottom lengthwise piece, then begin adding more horizontal cucumber pieces, folding every other piece until every piece has been used. Then i just trimmed off the excess pieces to make it look tidy and voila! The cucumber weave is done.

Now we are all set to build the cocktail.

First I’ll add 1/2 an ounce of lime juice. I just juice it straight into my shaker tin. I’m measuring it just in case, but it measured out to exactly a half ounce.

Next I’m going to muddle four cucumber slices in my small shaker tin.

Next I will add 3 heaping bar spoons of full fat Greek yogurt to the tin with the muddled cucumber.

Now I’ll add a quarter ounce of green chartreuse

Then I’m adding an ounce and a half of gin

Followed by a half ounce os the dill cucumber syrup and finally 2 drops of saline solution.

Before adding the ice and shaking, I need to prepare the glass by affixing the cucumber garnish inside. To do this I am going to rely on the moisture of the cucumbers to stick to the glass. I used the parchment paper to press the cucumbers into the glass, then filled the glass with the dill and cucumber infused crushed ice.

Unfortunately, when I poured the cocktail in, the liquid got in between the glass and the garnish, and kind of ruined the effect. So I scratched that garnish and simply poured the cocktail over the crushed ice and garnished with a dill sprig and a simple cucumber fan- which I have to say ended up looking really nice.

This drink was so good- it very reminiscent of a crisp spring day- which was exactly what I was hoping for. The freshness of the cucumber and dill really shine through and the gin compliments it perfectly- The hint of chartreuse gives this cocktail some depth and the yogurt rounds out the texture and flavor perfectly. It makes an excellent pairing for a Greek salad too.

I was disappointed the cucumber weave failed. I think my crushed ice pieces were just too large and couldn’t fill the gaps. I’d love to try and use it again, through the new garnish looks pretty nice too.