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Not a Melon

1 1⁄2 oz Rye, Rittenhouse 100
1 oz Fino sherry, Lustau
3⁄4 oz Lemon juice
3⁄4 oz Simple syrup
1⁄2 oz Cynar
3 sli Cucumber
Instructions

Muddle cucumber slices, add other ingredients, shake with ice, and strain into a rocks/double old fashioned glass. Fill with ice or cube, and garnish with a cucumber wheel.

Cocktail summary
Posted by joshlh on
Created by
Zach Luther, Backbar, Somerville, Massachusetts
Year
2017
Is an
authentic recipe
Reference

https://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2017/06/not-melon.html

Curator
Not yet rated
User rating
4 stars
(1 rating)
Yields Drink

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From other users
  • Deliciously different than the sum of its parts. Frederic Yarm's tasting notes are spot on: The Not a Melon gave forth a cucumber-melon aroma with rye notes peeping through. Next, a vegetal, lemon, and malt sip led into rye, bubble gum, and cucumber on the swallow.
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Comments
Artur B commented on 5/08/2026:

Interesting and pretty fresh. Should repeat.

yarm commented on 5/09/2026:

Zach was in from New York for a guest shift that week. I was doing a guest shift the following week at Backbar as part of my book launch party for my second book (Drunk & Told: A Boston Cocktail Book), and one of my coworkers who was dating a Backbar bartender at the time told me that I needed to stop to see Zach (otherwise, I might not have gone in back-to-back weeks).