On a warm afternoon in late May, just feet away from the Camden Yards, hundreds of people pack into Pickles Pub.
It doesn’t take long to recognize Maryland’s new state cocktail.
The Orange Crush is known for its distinctive orange tint, much like the Orioles baseball team.
The Maryland General Assembly voted the Crush as the official cocktail earlier this year, and Gov. Wes Moore signed it into law. On June 1, it entered the books and made the crush part of history.
“They're definitely just like a light summer drink that's an easy drinker,” Jessica Sullivan, a bartender at Pickles Pub said. “It doesn't taste too much like alcohol. They go down nice and easy, not too sweet, not too fruity. They’ve definitely become everyone’s favorite drink who comes out here for sure.”
Pickles goes through more than 5,600 oranges on a typical Friday, according to Tom Leonard, part owner of the pub.
“I would say five years ago that we were a beer bar and we are a crush pub, 100% now,” Leonard said. “I mean, it's like, it's like the number one thing is the Orange Crush. It's the juice. The juice gets here to come back and come back but, it's taken off.”
For those unfamiliar, crushes are a mix of fresh squeezed oranges, vodka, triple sec, Sprite and lots of ice.
Several oranges go into Pickles Pub’s massive 32-ounce Crushes.
“If you don't have the fresh squeezed juice, it's not even worth it,” Sullivan said.
According to lore, crushes were invented at Harborside Bar and Grille in Ocean City in 1995.
The drink isn’t without controversy, though. Delaware also claimed the drink as its state drink last year.
The rivalry caused such a stir that U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md., now retired) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) had an Orange Crush competition on Capitol Hill.
“We did it in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Room, because I chaired that committee at the time,” Cardin said. “I met with the owner, they taught me the technique, and I duplicated it for the contest, and it was a lot of fun, and we won.”
Patrons at Pickles think the Crush belongs to Maryland too.
There’s a lot of Maryland-themed cocktails out there — drinks rimmed with Old Bay and mixed with Natty Boh.
But, Roland Joyce, who is sipping his Crush before the Orioles game says the crown belongs to the Crush.
“Love Old Bay, but I think it's time for the crush to shine,” he said before taking another sip.
