Southside
Gin, lime, sugar and mint, shaken and served up. A gin Mojito without the soda — the Prohibition-era drink of Chicago gangsters or Long Island sportsmen, depending on who you believe.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Chill a coupe.
Add the mint leaves, lime juice and syrup to a shaker and press gently with a muddler.
Add the gin, fill with ice, and shake hard for 10 seconds.
Double strain into the chilled coupe and float a mint leaf on top.
A thoughtful finish
- Bruise the mint, don't shred it. Shredded mint is bitter and ends up in the teeth.
- Double strain. Mint fragments in a coupe are the mark of a careless Southside.
- Lime is the modern standard; the 21 Club uses lemon. Top with soda and it is a Southside Fizz; serve over crushed ice with a mint bouquet and it is a gin julep.
Common mistakes
- Over-muddling the mint to a green paste.
- A single strain, leaving flecks in the glass.
- Too much syrup. Mint reads as sweet already; keep the syrup equal to the lime.
A few good questions.
What is the difference between a Southside and a Mojito?
Gin for rum, and no soda — the Southside is shaken and served up. Add soda and it is a Southside Fizz, which is close to a gin Mojito.
Lime or lemon?
Both have precedent. Lime is sharper and the modern standard; lemon is the 21 Club tradition and softer.
Was it really Al Capone's drink?
The story is popular and unproven. The Long Island club story is equally unproven. Enjoy both.
Can I serve it long?
Yes — over ice with soda it is a Southside Fizz, and it is excellent that way in summer.
Variations
- Mojito — Rum, lime, mint, sugar and soda.
- Gimlet — Gin, lime and sugar, no mint.
- Gin-Gin Mule — Gin, lime, mint and ginger beer.
- Eastside — The Southside with cucumber.
Where it comes from
c. 1910s–1920s · New York or Chicago · 21 Club / Southside Sportsmen's Club
Contested. More than one origin is claimed for this drink. We show the competing accounts rather than pick one.
Two stories. One has the Southside created at the Southside Sportsmen’s Club on Long Island, a hunting and fishing club of the wealthy, around 1900, as a gin julep for the members. The other has it named for Chicago’s South Side, where Al Capone’s gang supposedly sweetened its rough gin with lemon and mint to make it drinkable. Neither is documented; the drink appears in print in the 1910s as a Southside Fizz and was the house cocktail of the 21 Club in New York from the 1930s, which is where most people met it. It is a gin sour with mint and belongs to the same family as the Mojito and the Julep.
Sources
- Hugo Ensslin, Recipes for Mixed Drinks, 1916 (book)
- David Wondrich, Imbibe!, 2015 (book)
- Robert Simonson, A Proper Drink, 2016 (book)
Strength. About 1.47 US standard drinks at an estimated 20.1% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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