Delaware and Maryland Are Feuding Over a State Cocktail's History

When states within the U.S. quarrel, it’s generally over subjects that have inspired conflicts around the globe. Ohio and Michigan once had a long-running dispute over their border, for instance, and some residents of Eastern Oregon have suggested moving several counties from their state to Idaho. And then there’s the case of a current (rhetorical) skirmish between Maryland and Delaware; this one, however, isn’t over borderlines or politics. Instead, it’s about the Orange Crush.

The Orange Crush is a cocktail made using triple sec, soda and freshly-squeezed orange juice. Some versions add vodka into the mix, and it’s this recipe that Delaware recently named as its state cocktail. The bill concedes that the Orange Crush “is claimed to have been originated by bartenders in Ocean City, Maryland in 1995” but argues that it was in Delaware that the drink found its audience.

“The Starboard in Dewey Beach, Delaware perfected the Orange Crush and serves the most Orange Crush cocktails of any bar in Delaware every beach season,” the bill states — referencing a bar that also holds an annual event wherein people run through the town alongside two guys wearing a bull costume.

As The Washington Post‘s Emily Heil and Fritz Hahn report, some Maryland cocktail fans aren’t happy with a neighboring state taking credit for a drink that originated there. “[T]his legislation is a little like saying, ‘I went to your house and stole something and it’s mine now,’” spirits expert Derek Brown told the Post. “Saying that possession is nine-tenths of the law doesn’t make it so.”

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The dispute between the two states has largely taken the form of good-natured verbal salvoes by lawmakers in Delaware and Maryland. However, Heil and Hahn also note a salient point: Maryland hasn’t yet taken steps to establish its own state cocktail. Which, in turn, begs the question: what might it choose in lieu of the Orange Crush? And what minor controversies might that decision inspire?