Cucumber Mint Martini

Ready for your new spring and summer go to drink? I found the perfect {& HEALTHY} cocktail you are going to want all summer long! I am a sucker for anything cucumber or mint and Ketel One answered all my thirsty prayers. Their entire Botanical line is phenomenal, ranging from Peach & Orange Blossom, Grapefruit & Rose and my fav, Cucumber & Mint. In addition to the yummy flavors, they literally mastered a diet liquor. I'll go into more detail below, but the TL;DR version -- NO CARBS, NO SUGAR.

To be completely honest, all this vodka really needs is club soda to make a tasty drink, but I took it one step further by muddling some of the flavors that are already infused into the spirits to give it an extra layer of depth.

You'll need:

- Ketel One Botanical Cucumber & Mint

- Club Soda

- Lime

- Mint, for garnish

- Cucumbers, garnish or muddle

- Simple Syrup, optional

- Ice

In a mortar and pestle or martini shaker, add a handful of sliced cucumbers, a few sprigs of mint and 1-2 teaspoons of simple syrup. Pour 2 shots of vodka per martini and muddle. Once you start to smell the mint, squeeze an entire lime into the shaker with a handful of ice and get shakin'. {My favorite cocktail maker once told me that in order to get the martini the *perfect* temperature requires 100 shakes, but who is counting?!}

Once chilled pour into a martini glass for a strong and tasty drink, or over ice and top with club soda. One thing to note is that the liquor is only 30 ABV, which technically makes it a spirit instead of a vodka. While we traditionally think of Ketel One as a vodka distiller, vodka is usually 40 ABV, so slightly lower alcohol content than a vodka, but get this: for those counting macros, this liquor is a 0 - 0 - 0 beverage and that is hard to find! Because of how it is distilled, it's more pure, and though lower in alcohol content, the process removes the sugar and carbs that most liquors contain.

Anyway, cheers to Ketel One for figuring out diet liquor and for making it taste great!! Cheers!