new era · shaken
South Side recipe
A gin sour with mint — a Mojito's uptown cousin, straight up.
A South Side is 50 ml (47 g) Gin, 25 ml (25.8 g) Fresh Lemon Juice, 15 ml (16.7 g) Sugar Syrup and 1 ml (1 g) Mint, shaken and served in a coupe. It pours to about 91 ml before ice, at roughly 22.5% ABV. Weighing the ingredients instead of measuring them is what keeps the balance identical from one round to the next.
- Glasscoupe
- Methodshaken
- Pour volume91 ml
- Strength (est.)22.5% ABV
- Time4 min
South Side ingredients — in millilitres and grams
Grams are what the PourPilot coaster actually targets. They are not the same as the millilitres: a spirit is lighter than water, a syrup is heavier, so 30 ml of one is never 30 g. The right-hand column is the density we use, in grams per millilitre.
| Ingredient | Volume | Weight | g/ml | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gin | 50 ml | 47 g | 0.94 | Weighed by the coaster |
| Fresh Lemon Juice | 25 ml | 25.8 g | 1.03 | Weighed by the coaster |
| Sugar Syrup | 15 ml | 16.7 g | 1.11 | Weighed by the coaster |
| Mint | 1 ml | — | 0.98 | A handful of mint |
How to make a South Side
- Set your coupe on the scale (or on the PourPilot coaster) and zero it. Every measurement below is given in millilitres and in grams, so you can use either.
- Add Gin, Fresh Lemon Juice, Sugar Syrup and Mint to a shaker, weighing each ingredient rather than eyeballing a jigger.
- Fill with ice and shake hard for 12–15 seconds.
- Double-strain into a chilled coupe.
- Garnish: A handful of mint.
South Side: the questions people actually ask
How strong is a South Side?
Roughly 22.5% ABV as poured, before the ice dilutes it — typically another 15–25% water by the time you finish stirring or shaking. Spirit-forward. Sip it, do not sink it.
What glass should a South Side be served in?
A coupe. Chill it first — a room-temperature stemmed glass will undo half the work you just did in the mixing tin.
Can I make a South Side without a jigger?
Yes — that is what the gram column is for. Put the glass or tin on a kitchen scale, zero it, and pour to the weight. It is more accurate than a jigger because nothing is left clinging to the inside of the measure. The PourPilot coaster does the same thing without you having to watch a display: it lights up as you approach the target and tells you when to stop.
Why are some ingredients not weighed?
Dashes of bitters and rinses are too small to weigh reliably — a dash is roughly 0.8 ml, well inside the noise of any bar scale. Count them instead. Everything else in this South Side is weighed.
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