The iconic OC drink is now Maryland’s official state cocktail, thanks to a legislative Hail Mary pass
With a serious revenue shortfall hanging over Annapolis, each bill arrived at the State House as a lighthearted, long-shot proposal: one to make chromite the official state mineral, and another to crown the Orange Crush as Maryland’s official state cocktail.
But in the final, frenzied hours of Maryland’s 2025 legislative session, both ended up sharing the spotlight, fused in a last-minute legislative maneuver that left lawmakers impressed and constituents cheering.
While the honor bestowed on the beloved Ocean City-born libation was led by Del. Wayne Hartman (R-38C, Worcester), he says it wouldn’t have happened if Delaware hadn’t fired the first shot, declaring last summer that the Orange Crush would be the First State’s official adult beverage.
“As we all know, the Orange Crush started at Harborside” in 1995, Hartman told OC Today-Dispatch, name-dropping the iconic West Ocean City bar, “and it’s gone viral across the East Coast and even beyond. I felt like they deserved the credit.”
To one-up Delaware and set the record straight, Hartman and several of his legislative colleagues set out to pass a law making the Orange Crush – a mix of vodka, fresh orange juice, and triple sec, topped with a squirt of lemon-lime soda – the official state cocktail, one as synonymous with Maryland as the crab cake.
He wasn’t taking it lightly. Even before the legislative session began in January, Hartman got to work with his General Assembly colleagues and committee chairs, letting them know he was planning to counter Delaware’s summertime salvo.
“Typically, state symbol bills, they like to see economic development as a result of it,” Hartman said. “When I started doing the research, it was very easy to see that there’s a huge economic impact from the Orange Crush. And it can only get better with more people knowing about it and hearing about it.”
Oh Wow …. I”m just thrilled out of my mind that Maryland now has the orange crush as its official drink. So when can we get back to what really matters, to stop excessive taxes paying for unnecessary programs ?