It was exactly a year ago this month that we introduced you to Troy Roberts, founder and co-owner of Drum Circle Distilling in Sarasota, makers of small-batch Siesta Key Rum. It’s been a great year for the homegrown start-up.

At the 2011 RumXP International Tasting Competition staged as part of the Miami Rum Renaissance Festival, one of the largest events of its kind worldwide, the home team scored not only a Gold Medal for its Siesta Key Silver Rum but that rum was also judged Best In Class in competition with 80 of the planet’s best rums. And just to ice the cake, the distiller’s new Siesta Key Gold Rum took a Silver Medal.

Congratulations, Troy!

A Perfectly Peculiar Summer Martini

Hendrick’s Gin, a very small batch gin from Scotland, derives its singularly odd flavor from infusions of rose and cucumber. Yes, cucumber.

I’ve been curious about this oddity since I first saw it on a retailer’s shelf here a few years ago but had not, until this summer, gotten around to actually tasting it.

It happened by accident, as so many good things do. While traveling, Colette and I dropped into a favorite hotel bar before going on to dinner and there right at the top of the specialty drinks list was a Hendrick’s Gin Cucumber Martini. Kismet, obviously. I ordered it and watched carefully as the bartender mixed it, poured it and set it before me garnished not with olives or a twist but with a fresh slice of cucumber. I sipped and opened my eyes wide. What a perfectly refreshing and singular summer cocktail!

Above is the recipe for the cocktail I enjoyed, adapted from the distiller’s delightfully silly website, the Monty Pythonesque Hendrick’s Curiositorium. It’s simple, delightful and very definitely not the same old thing.