A New Backstory: Rekindling Maryland s Craft • What Weekly Magazine whatweekly.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from whatweekly.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
photo: Margaret Houston
Nothing against juleps, but horse-racing season has plenty of room for other cocktails. In Maryland, equestrian fans prefer a different mint-garnished sipper during the spring steeplechase months it’s called the Southside. Baltimore’s Elkridge Club helped popularize the cocktail, but Old Line State tailgaters whip up their own versions everywhere from amateur races to the Preakness.
Doug Atwell, bartender at Blue Pit BBQ & Whiskey in Baltimore, has studied the Southside and its many individual incarnations. “I discovered that the local variation is predominately rum in place of gin in most Maryland circles, and then sometimes both lemon and lime juice,” he says. “Personally, I believe gin and lime veer into Rickey territory, so when given the reins, I steer toward rum, lemon, and mint in a Southside.”