A cucumber cocktail won’t ask too much of you. Simply wielding a muddler or vegetable peeler will yield refreshing fizzes, coolers and sours all season long. The ingredient’s clean flavor and subtle aroma make it a natural pairing for botanical gins, bittersweet aperitivo liqueurs and vegetal tequilas and mezcals. Cucumber cocktails are more than a cliché springtime construction—they’re a relaxed, warm-weather mindset.

For a simple yet bold take on the cucumber drink, the Mexican Razor Blade marries the spirit of a spicy Margarita with the mellow, cooling sensation of cucumber, whose slices get added to the mixing tin. The straightforward formula welcomes riffs: Try swapping simple syrup for agave or honey, for example, or adding strawberries for an extra layer of freshness and a hint of pink.

In the Southside Fizz, mint and cucumber are muddled together to offer herbaceous, vegetal tones to the mix of gin, lime and simple syrup. Poured over ice and topped with soda water, it’s an easygoing entry to the porch-drinking canon. Similarly, Toby Maloney’s sour riff, the Juliet & Romeo, leans on mint, lime and gin to pair with the cucumber. “I wanted it to taste like a walk through an English garden,” he says of his modern classic, for which he muddles a few slivers of cucumber, then adds floral aromatics via a dash of rose water and Angostura.

Aperol’s singular bittersweetness serves as an apt foil to cucumber’s subtleties. Using the Pink Gin—a spare duo of gin and Angostura bitters—as inspiration, Richard Boccato and Michael McIlroy’s Archangel achieves the forebears’ eponymous hue with added complexity. Though in this case, complexity is achieved through restraint. With just three ingredients—gin, Aperol and bruised cucumber—the Archangel embodies balance; it’s strong yet understated. In her “weird but delicious” La Bandida, meanwhile, Fanny Chu concocts a citrusy yet bitter “house” Aperol–crème de pêche blend to accompany salty cucumber cordial, tequila and mezcal. Topped with IPA, it’s fruity and shandylike—a crushable oddball quencher.

Though many spring drinks reflect the change in weather with light, crisp and subtle flavor profiles, cucumber can adapt to the bolder side of the season, too. Kenta Goto’s Watermelon Cucumber Cooler gets a double dose of cucumber (muddled in and used as a garnish) plus an unexpected savory, mustardy zip thanks to the addition of wasabi s alt, which highlights the fruit’s natural sweetness. Similarly, building on the basic buck template, the Mezcal Mule calls on passion fruit purée and agave for bright and tropical sweetness, while ginger beer matches spicy, smoky mezcal and cucumber adds its signature levity.

Some drinks skip the fresh fruit but nevertheless maintain its essence. At Libertine in New York City, the Tonique merges the French classic Calvados & Tonic with a refreshing, vegetal profile through cucumber bitters and cucumber-flavored tonic water.

A final cucumber recipe makes the breezy drink even more effortless. Capable of being batched ahead of time, the Appellation Cooler—made with muscadet, Cocchi Americano, basil-infused vermouth and apricot liqueur—is a no-brainer for entertaining. When it’s time to serve, simply pour over ice and nestle two pieces of cucumber right into the glass.