south side swizzle

8-10 leaf Mint
3/4 oz Simple Syrup
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
2 oz Gin (Beefeater)

Muddle the mint leaves in simple syrup in a Collins glass, add rest of the ingredients, fill with crushed ice, and swizzle to mix and chill. Add 5-6 dash Angostura Bitters, top with crushed ice, and swizzle in the bitters. Garnish with mint sprigs and add a straw.

After getting home from Oscar Miszlai's inaugural Monday night industry night at Silvertone, I wanted to utilize some of the mint growing rampantly in my garden. My mind thought about drinks shaken with mint like the South Side and ones where the mint was muddled in like the Queen's Park Swizzle. Moreover, I became inspired by the simplicity of riffs in Sasha Petraske's Regarding Cocktails, so I decided to craft the South Side meeting the Queen's Park Swizzle. The end result later reminded me the Hyde Park Swizzle albeit with different citrus and bitters.
The South Side Swizzle greeted the senses with mint, lemon, and clove aromas. Next, lemon on the sip moved into gin's pine and citrussy spice along with mint's herbal flavors on the swallow. Finally, as the bitters layer entered the equation, the swallow became more dominated by clove and mint notes.