If you believe, as David Embury states in landmark 1948 manual “The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks,’’ that a cocktail should “have sufficient alcoholic flavor to be readily distinguishable from papaya’’ without “assault[ing] the palate with the force of an atomic bomb,’’ and you also require sufficient creativity, the Green Light at New England brasserie Townsman is your cocktail. The white rum (they use Ipswich-made Privateer) provides an alcoholic murmur just loud enough to be heard through the mellow sweetness of honey, the freshness of cucumber, and bracing lime. The finishing bubbles tie it together in a tidy bouquet.

Green Light

Makes 1 cocktail

1 chopped English cucumber

½ cup honey

½ cup lime juice

2 cups water

1 ounce white rum

2 ounces sparkling wine

1 cucumber wheel

1. In a blender, put cucumber, honey, lime juice, and water and blend thoroughly.

2. Strain the mixture into an empty pint glass and add the rum.

3. Pour into a tumbler over ice and add the sparkling wine.

4. Garnish with cucumber wheel. Adapted from Townsman

Liza Weisstuch can be reached at liza.weisstuch@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter@livingtheproof.