Eastern Standard
An Eastern Standard is 50ml London Dry gin or vodka, 25ml fresh lime juice, 15ml simple syrup, three slices of cucumber and three mint leaves. The cucumber is muddled hard and the mint clapped and pressed lightly, then the drink is shaken, fine strained into a chilled coupe and finished with a cucumber slice rubbed round the rim. About 2.0 UK units. Difford’s Guide calls it one of the Soho House group’s House Tonic cocktails, based on the Eastside, which in turn was inspired by the Southside. The recipe Soho House has published on its own site gives vodka or gin as equal choices. Against the Eastside it has less gin, less sugar and half the mint, so it comes out lighter and sharper, with the cucumber in front.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: Cucumber slice rubbed round the rim then dropped in
Ingredients
50ml
London Dry gin at 40% ABV. Soho House’s own recipe gives vodka as an equal choice: gin fills the middle of the drink with botanicals, vodka leaves plain cucumber and mint.
25ml
Fresh, from that day’s limes. At 25ml against 15ml of syrup it keeps the drink sharp while the muddled cucumber adds water.
15ml
Simple syrup, equal sugar and water by weight. The Gentleman’s Journal’s copy of the Soho House recipe muddles 10g of sugar with the cucumber, and Soho House’s own page gives 20ml of syrup where we pour 15ml; syrup dissolves at once and leaves no grit.
3 slices
Three slices, crushed hard with the syrup first, before the rest. Peeled, they give a cleaner, paler drink.
3 leaves
Three leaves, clapped once and pressed gently. Muddled hard, they turn the drink grassy and bitter.
Instructions
Chill a coupe in the freezer or with ice water.
Muddle three cucumber slices hard with the simple syrup in the base of a shaker.
Clap three mint leaves once between your palms, add them with the gin and lime juice, and press gently.
Fill the shaker with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Fine strain into the chilled coupe.
Rub a cucumber slice round the rim and drop it into the drink.
Expert Tip
Treat the two green ingredients differently. Crush the cucumber hard with the syrup first; it is mostly water and gives up its flavour reluctantly. Clap the mint once between your palms, add it with the spirit and lime, and press gently. A hard muddle tears mint and turns the drink grassy and bitter, and once it is shaken that cannot be undone. Fine strain it. Cucumber pulp and torn mint cloud the coupe and catch in the teeth.
Behind the Eastern Standard
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
Difford’s Guide calls the Eastern Standard one of the House Tonic cocktails of the Soho House group, the members’ clubs, based on the Eastside, which was itself inspired by the Southside.
Soho House’s own page gives 50ml of vodka or gin, 25ml of lime, 20ml of simple syrup, three slices of cucumber, three mint leaves and a coupe, where ours pours 15ml of syrup; The Gentleman’s Journal adds a longer version in a tumbler topped with soda or tonic. The name appears to nod to the Eastside; how it got it is not recorded.
The Garden Sour Lineage
The Southside is the oldest of the three: gin, citrus, sugar and mint, usually linked to Prohibition-era America by stories that are hard to verify, such as the one about opposing New York mobsters that The Gentleman’s Journal repeats. The Eastside added cucumber. The Eastern Standard pares the Eastside back.
Southside, Eastside and Eastern Standard compared
Southside
- Spec
- 60ml gin, 30ml lemon, 15ml syrup, five or six mint leaves
- Strength
- About 2.4 UK units
Eastside
- Spec
- 60ml gin, 25ml lime, 20ml syrup, three cucumber slices, six mint leaves
- Strength
- About 2.4 UK units
Eastern Standard
- Spec
- 50ml gin or vodka, 25ml lime, 15ml syrup, three cucumber slices, three mint leaves
- Strength
- About 2.0 UK units
| Drink | Spec | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Southside | 60ml gin, 30ml lemon, 15ml syrup, five or six mint leaves | About 2.4 UK units |
| Eastside | 60ml gin, 25ml lime, 20ml syrup, three cucumber slices, six mint leaves | About 2.4 UK units |
| Eastern Standard | 50ml gin or vodka, 25ml lime, 15ml syrup, three cucumber slices, three mint leaves | About 2.0 UK units |
Line them up and the flavours barely move. What changes is the weight: the Eastern Standard carries the least spirit and the least sugar of the three, so the cucumber and lime come forward.
The Eastside is the fuller version, with more gin and twice the mint.
Gin or Vodka
The recipe offers both, and both work. Cucumber and mint are strong enough to carry the drink, so taking out the gin leaves a cleaner version rather than a gap.
Gin is the fuller drink, because juniper and cucumber sit well together and the botanicals give the middle of the glass something to do. Vodka lets the lime show more.
Batching It
The cucumber batches; the mint does not. Muddle cucumber into the syrup in quantity and strain it, and it holds overnight in the fridge. The lime is squeezed fresh on the day.
Add the mint to each shaker as you go. Muddled mint in a batch turns dull and vegetal within a few hours.
How to Serve It
Shaken hard, fine strained into a chilled coupe and served up, without ice. For a longer drink, strain it into a tumbler of ice and top it with soda or tonic.
Rub the rim with a slice of cucumber and drop it in. Most of the drink’s aroma sits in the cucumber, and the rim is what your nose passes before each mouthful.
Make it at home
The Spirit
GinGin is a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. Under the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008, juniper must lead the taste, the floor is 37.5% ABV, and the route the flavour takes sets the grade: plain gin, distilled gin or London gin. Our recipes count it at 40%, and it carries the Martini, the Negroni and the Gin and Tonic.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an Eastern Standard cocktail?
Where does the Eastern Standard come from?
How is it different from an Eastside?
Should I use gin or vodka?
Why muddle the cucumber and mint separately?
How strong is an Eastern Standard?
Can it be served as a long drink?
Sources.
Correct as of 18 October 2026.
- Difford’s Guide, “Eastern Standard (Soho House Tonic)” (secondary source: one of the Soho House group’s House Tonic cocktails, based on the Eastside, which in turn was inspired by the Southside).
- Soho House, “House Favourites: Eastern Standard” (the group’s own page: 2oz/50ml vodka or gin, 1oz/25ml fresh lime juice, 0.75oz/20ml simple syrup, 3 cucumber slices muddled, 3 mint leaves hand-clapped; coupe; Soho House Hong Kong bar manager Anne-Sophie Cross demonstrates).
- The Gentleman’s Journal, “Cocktail of the week: how to make Soho House’s Eastern Standard” (secondary source: the same recipe with 10g sugar in place of syrup; a riff on the Eastside and Southside, gin cocktails allegedly drunk by opposing New York mobsters during Prohibition; coupe or highball, topped with soda or tonic).
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Eastside
An Eastside is 60ml of gin, 25ml of fresh lime juice and 20ml of simple syrup, with three slices of cucumber and six mint leaves pressed gently in the shaker first. It is shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with a cucumber ribbon to finish. About 2.4 UK units. It is a Southside with two changes: lime where the Southside takes lemon, and cucumber, which adds a green, watery coolness under the mint. Difford’s Guide says George Delgado created it in 2004 at Libation in New York, originally as a long drink, and VinePair notes a competing account that credits Chad Solomon. The care goes into the muddling. Press the cucumber enough to release its juice and the mint only enough to bruise it. Torn mint tastes bitter and grassy, and no amount of syrup covers it.
Southside
A Southside is 60ml of London Dry gin, 30ml of fresh lemon juice, 15ml of simple syrup and five or six mint leaves, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with a small mint sprig. About 2.4 UK units. Those are the IBA’s measures; 15ml of egg white is optional. The Oxford Companion, in an entry by Eric Felten, says the story that it was born in the speakeasies of Chicago’s South Side is incorrect: the drink evolved from the Mint Juleps made at Snedecor’s Tavern on Long Island, which became the Southside Sportsman’s Club, and it has long been the house drink at New York’s 21 Club. The drink does not depend on any of that. In the glass it is a gin sour scented with mint. Shaken and served up, with no soda or crushed ice, it is more concentrated than a Mojito, and the mint reads as aroma rather than as leaves in the drink.
Gimlet
A Gimlet is 60ml of gin and 22.5ml of lime cordial, stirred with ice for 20 to 30 seconds and strained into a chilled coupe, with a lime wheel. About 2.4 UK units. Gin and cordial only, with no fresh juice: the preserved lime is what makes it a Gimlet. The usual story ties it to the Royal Navy. The Oxford Companion says the Merchant Shipping Act of 1867 required British merchant ships to carry lime juice against scurvy, and that Lauchlan Rose patented an alcohol-free way of preserving lime juice the same year. Harry’s ABC of Cocktails calls a Gimlet of equal parts Plymouth gin and Rose’s lime cordial “a very popular beverage in the Navy”, and Cigar Aficionado quotes Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye of 1953: a real gimlet is half gin and half Rose’s lime juice and nothing else. Ours is drier, a little under three to one. Cordial tastes rounder than fresh lime, with a cooked, marmalade edge, and the stir keeps the drink clear and silky.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 18 October 2026