A Southside Cocktail Is The Perfect Pairing For The Long Weekend

With Auckland Anniversary this weekend, many of us from the upper North Island will be making the most of this (hopefully) glorious weekend by spending time with friends and family in the sun. So why not try this zingy Southside cocktail with a couple of metre-long pizzas to get the weekend started with colleagues before we break for a few days?

Purported to be the drink of choice of notorious Chicago gangster, Al Capone, whose gang ran the Southside of Chicago, the cocktail is overflowing with the sweet and sour citrus flavours that was needed to mask rougher gin that Capone and his cronies supposedly imported. These days, however, the Southside is beautiful with any good quality gin you have on hand and is even better when sipped on amongst friends on a gorgeous summer’s afternoon.

Southside Cocktail

Ingredients

6 mint leaves
4 tablespoons gin
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon simple syrup or maple syrup
Lemon twist and mint leaves to garnish

Method

1. Gently muddle mint leaves in a cocktail shaker or metal cup or bowl
2. In the cocktail shaker with the mint leaves, add gin, lemon and lime juices and syrup.
3. Fill cocktail shaker with ice and shake until contents are cold.
4. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a mint leaf and the lemon twist.

Serves one.