Southside Cocktail
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Summer cocktails should be refreshing sippers that are easy to make. That means just a few ingredients that bring a lot to the drink. One of my all-time favorite drink flavors for hot summer days is mint. It’s cooling and delicious and, I think, criminally underrepresented in the cocktail world. Imagine my delight then when I recently came across an old-school cocktail (the recipe dates back to the prohibition era) that combines mint and citrus with gin to make an incredibly easy and summery drink. Meet: the southside.
Think of the southside as what would happen if a mojito and a margarita had a baby. It’s got the mint of a mojito and the fresh citrus kick of a margarita, anchored by the floral flavor of gin. It’s super simple to make and tastes like peak summer. It’s also easy to scale up if you want to make enough for a group. What more could you ask for on a sweaty summer day?
Ingredients:
- 4 to 5 sprigs of mint
- 1 ounce of simple syrup
- 1 ounce of lemon or lime juice
- 2 ounces of gin
- ice