Old Maid

About the Old Maid

Old Maid is a garden fresh, shaken cocktail that pairs Timber Creek Florida Gin with muddled cucumber and mint, fresh lime juice, and simple syrup, fine strained over a single large cube in a chilled rocks glass. It is one of the more refreshing, low key drinks on the menu, built to taste clean and vegetal rather than boozy, with the cucumber’s watery coolness and the mint’s herbal lift doing most of the work up front before the gin and lime round things out underneath. Timber Creek Florida Gin is a natural fit because it is distilled grain to glass on the distillery’s own 240 acre Crestview farm and carried through the PureBlend process, which gives the gin a citrus and juniper character bright enough to hold its own against cucumber and mint without turning the drink herbal to the point of tasting like a salad.

To build it, muddle the cucumber and mint gently in the bottom of a shaker (just enough to release the oils and juice, not to pulverize them), add the gin, lime juice, and simple syrup, shake hard with ice, and fine strain over one large cube in a chilled rocks glass, garnishing with a fresh cucumber slice and a mint sprig. It pours pale green and smells like a cucumber garden after rain. This is a warm weather, midday appropriate cocktail, light enough for brunch or an early evening start, and it pairs well with cucumber salad, goat cheese, grilled chicken, lemon tart, or shrimp cocktail.

Fine straining is worth the extra step here, since it keeps small bits of muddled cucumber and mint out of the finished drink so the texture stays clean rather than pulpy. Because it drinks so easy and cool, it can be deceptively quick to finish, so pace yourself and enjoy it responsibly.

Old Maid is a garden fresh, shaken cocktail that pairs Timber Creek Florida Gin with muddled cucumber and mint, fresh lime juice, and simple syrup, fine strained over a single large cube in a chilled rocks glass. It is one of the more refreshing, low key drinks on the menu, built to taste clean and vegetal rather than boozy, with the cucumber’s watery coolness and the mint’s herbal lift doing most of the work up front before the gin and lime round things out underneath. Timber Creek Florida Gin is a natural fit because it is distilled grain to glass on the distillery’s own 240 acre Crestview farm and carried through the PureBlend process, which gives the gin a citrus and juniper character bright enough to hold its own against cucumber and mint without turning the drink herbal to the point of tasting like a salad.

To build it, muddle the cucumber and mint gently in the bottom of a shaker (just enough to release the oils and juice, not to pulverize them), add the gin, lime juice, and simple syrup, shake hard with ice, and fine strain over one large cube in a chilled rocks glass, garnishing with a fresh cucumber slice and a mint sprig. It pours pale green and smells like a cucumber garden after rain. This is a warm weather, midday appropriate cocktail, light enough for brunch or an early evening start, and it pairs well with cucumber salad, goat cheese, grilled chicken, lemon tart, or shrimp cocktail.

Fine straining is worth the extra step here, since it keeps small bits of muddled cucumber and mint out of the finished drink so the texture stays clean rather than pulpy. Because it drinks so easy and cool, it can be deceptively quick to finish, so pace yourself and enjoy it responsibly.