Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Southside

Welcome back and happy Friday. Now that the solstice has passed and we’re officially into summer, I wanted to keep the theme I started last week with cooler summer drinks (and totally not because I have a ton of mint I need to use before it goes bad). I’m also sticking with the gin as the base as well. Just regular old Gordons this time. I wanted to change it up a bit from the cucumber, since it would be a little too close to last week’s cooler. With that in mind, I found a recipe for the South Side. I’m hoping the removal of the cucumber and the ginger ale, along with an extra half ounce of gin helps the flavors pop on this one. Lets see!

South Side

5 mint leaves
1 oz. lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 oz. gin
1 oz. simple syrup
Mint sprig for garnish

Add the mint leaves and lemon juice into a shaker and gently muddle. Add the gin and simple syrup with ice, and shake until well-chilled. Double-strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.

The aroma is minty and fresh. Enhanced by the ounce of lemon juice, making it very bright. It smells of summer.

The initial impression of the sip is that it is a tad sweet for my liking, but it doesn’t ruin the drink by any means. The extra sweetness definitely cuts any kind of sour notes from the lemon juice, as well as any overly strong juniper flavors from the gin. Or should I say all the gin flavors. The more I come back to this the harder it is to pick up any kind of gin notes at all. So, if you think you don’t like gin, this may be a good option for you if you want to give it a go. The sweetness does subside a bit once the sip evolves, which personally I welcome. In it’s place, you can pick up some more of the lemon and mint flavor combination. That combo really makes this a good summer drink. Both flavors work well together, and I’m really liking what they bring to the table here. The finish is where I can pick up most of the gin flavor. It’s almost like it separates in the glass, with the spirit sinking, but that could be my taste buds and my mind actively looking for any kind of gin flavors present.

Like last week, I’m digging the fact that I can expand my summer-y gin based drink repertoire. AS mentioned, gin can be finicky when it comes to coolers and highballs (outside of your traditional  gin and tonics of course). So the more I can experiment with this the better.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)