In the 1980s, The Starboard in Dewey Beach was known for bloody mary cocktails, thanks mainly to then-owner Chip Hearn’s passion for hot sauces. (He now owns Peppers in Lewes.) In the ’90s, however, The Starboard’s orange crush rose to fame, and it’s not leaving the spotlight anytime soon. Consider that in 2024, Delaware made the orange crush the official state cocktail.
While The Starboard boosted the cocktail to prominence in coastal Delaware, it’s not the only restaurant and bar serving it. Today, you can buy a version in a can, and while orange is the OG, some patrons—and proprietors—favor other fruits as well.
The sincerest form of flattery
Although the orange crush is Delaware’s pride and joy, it was born in Maryland. On a slow day, Chris Wall, owner of the Harborside Bar & Grill in Ocean City, and friends Jerry Wood and Kerry Flynn developed the recipe while experimenting with vodka.
It was 1995, and Karen Falk was among the first to try the new drink. She was in Ocean City to visit family members who knew Harborside’s owners. “It’s still my favorite, but I’m glad The Starboard is around the corner,” says the Rehoboth Beach resident.
Steve “Monty” Montgomery, current owner of The Starboard, quickly admits that the Dewey Beach landmark did not invent the crush. Instead, his team “perfected it,” he has quipped in the press. Montgomery was 18 when he got a nighttime job at The Starboard, then owned by the Hearn family. (The establishment opened in 1960 as Duke Duggan’s Last Resort Bar.) In 1999, Montgomery and his partners purchased The Starboard. For decades, the Dewey Beach watering hole was a locals’ haunt. It then began attracting visitors from Baltimore and Washington, D.C.—customers familiar with the Ocean City scene and the orange crush.
The name undoubtedly comes from the nonalcoholic Orange Crush soda created in 1906 by J.M. Thompson in Chicago and perfected in 1911 by Neil C. Ward, a beverage chemist. The orange flavor and carbonation are where the similarities end.
The standard crush has freshly squeezed orange juice, orange-flavored vodka, triple sec—an orange-flavored liqueur—lemon-lime soda, and crushed ice. Some say Stolichnaya vodka provided the crush’s foundation. Others maintain it was Smirnoff, which is The Starboard’s go-to vodka for the traditional take. For the soda, the restaurant uses Starry. Bethany Blues, with three beach locations, lets Sierra Mist bring the fizz. Sprite is another option.
Tip: If you want a “skinny” version, ask for soda water instead of lemon-lime soda. Be careful, warns Matt Savage, a fan of the crushes at Catch 54 in Fenwick Island and the Crabcake Factory in Selbyville. If you request a “skinny,” the bartender may omit triple sec.
The orange crush is the bestselling cocktail at Woody’s Dewey Beach, says owner Jimmy O’Conor. However, his bartenders choose Deep Eddy Vodka, which uses real oranges for its flavor.
The crush’s popularity crosses concepts on the coast. “We definitely have a lot of people looking for the traditional orange crush,” says Henry Clampitt, mixologist at The Cultured Pearl in Rehoboth Beach. “When they’re in town and don’t know what to order, they order that.”
The traditional crush is so mainstream that Regan Derrickson, who owns Nalu Surf Bar & Grill in Dewey and Rehoboth, and Summer House in Rehoboth, puts it in the same category as a margarita and old-fashioned. There are no fancy variations at his establishment. “We focus more on specialty cocktails,” he explains.
Beyond orange
In 2024, The Starboard sold 125,727 orange crushes from May through August. While no other fruit flavors came close, the restaurant’s menu proudly proclaims it sells more grapefruit crushes than anyone in America. Perhaps that’s because the ruby red grapefruit crush is Montgomery’s favorite. It’s made with Absolut Grapefruit vodka and topped with hand-squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice.
The Starboard also has watermelon, lemon, and mango crushes. Nearby, Woody’s offers grapefruit, lemon, and lime. At Obie’s by the Sea in Rehoboth, the peach crush mixes peach vodka, peach puree, and club soda.
Big Chill Surf Cantina, also in Rehoboth, has an impressive crush menu that includes cherry lime, which stars Pinnacle Vodka’s cherry flavor, lime juice, Sprite, triple sec, and grenadine. Along the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk, Above the Dunes features a raspberry-lemon crush with raspberry-flavored New Amsterdam Vodka and a taste of passion fruit and strawberry with Seacrets Passion Fruit Vodka.
Going against the grain
Flavored vodka is a common crush ingredient. However, modern crushes leverage other spirits. Bethany Blues, for instance, serves a bourbon crush with Jim Beam, fresh orange juice, fresh lemon juice, and simple syrup. The restaurant’s Mexican catapult contains Sauza Blue tequila, triple sec, Sierra Mist, and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.
Woody’s Irish orange crush is made with Jameson Orange, a flavored Irish whiskey. At the Rusty Rudder in Dewey Beach, the Captain crush counts on Captain Morgan Original spiced rum. The bayside restaurant with the expansive deck also has a coconut crush with Captain Morgan Parrot Bay coconut rum.
Then there are such avant-garde takes as Rusty Rudder’s Aperol crush with prosecco, and grapefruit hibiscus crush with tequila. The Kentucky tea crush contains Bird Dog peach-flavored whiskey and a splash of iced tea.
The Cultured Pearl recently added the lychee crush, which has vodka, lychee liqueur, lemon, and sparkling sake, with a lychee fruit garnish. At Tiki Jac’s in Rehoboth Beach, the crush selection includes blackberry gin and apple cider.
At home, preparing a crush requires extra effort, particularly if you want fresh juice. If it seems like too much work for one cocktail, consider a canned version. Andrew Rigney, a Delaware food and beverage pro, created the canned Dewey Crush in 2020. Recently, he formed a sales and marketing partnership with USBeverage, one of the nation’s leading beverage companies, to expand the brand.
Local favorite Dogfish Head now has two canned crush flavors in its portfolio: blood orange/mango and grapefruit/pomegranate.
In any form, the crush is the taste of summer, but on New Year’s Eve last year, it was the main attraction oceanside at Dewey Beach’s New Orleans Street. At the stroke of midnight, a giant replica of a cup of orange crush—hanging from a crane—descended from the sky.
Neither rain nor hail could stop Delaware’s favorite cocktail from taking center stage.
Related: Where to Enjoy Outdoor Dining at the Delaware Beaches
