east side

2 oz Gin (Beefeater)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
2 slice Cucumber
6 leaf Mint

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a cucumber slice and a mint sprig. I added a nasturtium flower garnish as well.

Two Tuesdays ago, I was inspired by the South Side to investigate the cucumber-laden riff called the East Side. Sam Ross in Sasha Petraske: Regarding Cocktails attributed the drink to Lynette Marrero in the mid-00s at the East Side Company which was one of Sasha's Milk & Honey offshoots. Originally, Lynette wanted to call this number the Ol'Biddy; however, Sasha did not care for it and insisted that it get renamed, and it soon became the London Maid. The A Seat at the Bar book defined the East Side as a South Side with a slice of cucumber in the mix served up, and the Old Maid being the same drink served on the rocks. And finally, Paul Clarke in The Cocktail Chronicles described how the recipe "circulated among New York's craft cocktail bars in the mid-2000s before finding a special welcome on the mixology circuit in Los Angeles."
The East Side gave forth a vegetal aroma from the cucumber and mint that was colored by the lime and the nasturtium's peppery note on the nose. Next, the sip offered lime and vegetal flavors that were followed by gin smoothed out by the cucumber on the swallow with a mint finish.