Unseasonably cold weather during the second weekend of October 1995 gave way to an experiment that became a best seller. Chris Wall, Jerry Wood and Kelly Flynn mixed together some Smirnoff Orange vodka, triple sec, fresh-squeezed orange juice and lemon-lime soda, inadvertently creating the first orange crush at Harborside Bar & Grill in Ocean City. The fruity concoction quickly became a signature summer cocktail and a rite of passage when visiting the Eastern Shore, and it paved the way for various other flavors of crushes, such as creamsicle, key lime, grapefruit and more.

But there’s nothing like an original. That’s something our friends in Delaware don’t seem to understand. Our neighbors may live in The First State (for being first to ratify the U.S. Constitution), but they were not first to the orange crush. But with a heavy dose of audacity, and perhaps too many libations, legislators in Dover thought it was a good use of time to make the orange crush the official cocktail of Delaware. State lawmakers acknowledge the drink was created in Maryland, but they claim it was perfected by The Starboard in Dewey Beach (which is actually better known for its daily Bloody Mary Bar and lack of onsite parking).

The folks at Harborside have been perfecting it since 1995, selling more than 110,000 original orange crushes a year. That doesn’t include the numerous other crush flavors sold at the homespun bar, serving boaters, locals and visitors.

Wall, a Harborside co-owner, described Delaware’s effort as “flattering.” “A whole state wants to take claim to what we created. And imitation is the highest form of flattery, and we’ll take it.”

Delaware doesn’t have a state drink. Maryland’s only state drink is…milk. Another signature blend in Maryland is the Black-Eyed Susan, named after the state flower and the official cocktail of the Preakness Stakes. It’s similarly vodka and orange-juice based.

“Maybe it’s time to change the state drink to the Harborside original orange crush,” Wall said.

But what makes the Harborside crush so special? Bartender Kelly Watkowski says it’s the combination of freshly squeezed orange juice and love, referring to the love customers and employees have for Harborside. Several employees have worked at Harborside for decades, growing up with the crush. Watkowski started as a waitress when she was 14. Now, she’s a bartender at 28 and can make a crush in less than 30 seconds.

Wall agrees the freshly squeezed orange juice is key. Some bars and restaurants use orange juice from a carton or that was squeezed several hours earlier, and it’s just not the same. “To me, it’s kinda self-explanatory, common sense. Where you gonna get the best juice? And we offer the best mother nature has to offer throughout the year. Sometimes they’re not as sweet as others, but yet it’s still made to order and fresh squeezed,” Wall said. He also offered a tip for picking the oranges: “The uglier they are on the outside, the better they are on the inside.”

He also thinks size matters when it comes to the glass. A lot of bars and restaurants serve an American pint, which is 14 ounces. But Harborside crushes are 16 ounces. For everywhere else, “there’s 2 ounces of something missing,” Wall said. “I don’t know how else I can put it.”

Whether it’s 16 ounces or a quarter-cup lighter, anyone can make a crush. But only Harborside owns the original recipe, and only Maryland can claim it as its own. We applaud our neighbors in Delaware for embracing and replicating the orange crush made and perfected in Maryland, but we urge Delaware Gov. John Carney to veto the bill making the crush Delaware’s state cocktail. We’re happy to share, but let’s not rewrite history. We also hope our Maryland lawmakers will consider an effort to name the orange crush as the state’s official summer cocktail. Wall and his friends created it. It belongs to Harborside and Maryland and everyone who enjoys it. And if the woeful movie sequel “Caddyshack II” taught us anything, it’s that you can’t beat an original.