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Sidecar
Cognac, orange liqueur, lemon — the margarita's elegant French grandparent.
How to order it: Sugar rim optional. VS cognac shakes fine; save the VSOP for sipping.
Flavor profile
The recipe
- 2 oz cognac
- 1 oz Cointreau
- ¾ oz lemon juice
- Shake; coupe
- Optional sugar rim; orange twist
The story
The Sidecar emerged around the end of the First World War, and both London and Paris claim it: Pat MacGarry of Buck's Club on one side, the bars of Paris, including Harry's New York Bar and the Ritz, on the other. Legend credits an army captain who arrived for his cognac in a motorcycle sidecar, though no one has produced the captain. The first printed recipes appeared in 1922, in books by Harry MacElhone and Robert Vermeire. It endures as the template sour of the brandy world, proof that cognac, orange liqueur, and lemon need no improvement, only proportion.
Modern variations
The Sidecar cast a long shadow. These pours carry the torch:
Adjacent pours