Cocktail recipe
Southside
A mint-bright gin sour with a crisp citrus snap and speakeasy poise.
Ingredients
- 60 ml (2 oz) London dry gin
- 25 ml (⅚ oz) fresh lemon juice
- 20 ml (⅔ oz) simple syrup (1:1)
- 7 fresh mint leaves
- Garnish: 1 fresh mint tip
Preparation
Gently press mint in the shaker with syrup to release its perfume, then add gin and lemon. Shake briskly with ice until the tin frosts; double-strain into a chilled coupe to remove bruised leaf fragments. Perch one pristine mint tip on the edge. Keep the finished drink clear and lively, never muddy green.
Glassware
Chilled coupe
History
A gin, mint and citrus drink called the Southside Fizz appeared in Hugo Ensslin’s *Recipes for Mixed Drinks* by 1916–17, with lemon and lime plus soda. The still Southside is a related development, not necessarily identical to that early fizz. Competing origin tales place the name on Chicago’s South Side or at the Southside Sportsmen’s Club on Long Island; neither has definitive documentary proof. New York’s 21 Club became an influential later champion, but it opened after the earliest printed references and therefore cannot safely be named the inventor.
Mixology View
We prefer a clean lemon-led, non-carbonated house sour, while preserving the older fizzy and mixed-citrus lineage in the history. Mint is a fragrance, not a salad.