That the brandy base be Cognac was a no-brainer for the panel (though one competing drink did call for the American brandy Sacred Bond). That included the garnish (which the judges said could be an orange twist or lemon twist), necessary to provide the drink with some harmonious aromatics, even if the twist was discarded after its oils were expressed. According to the French bartender Fernando Castellon, who has made a study of the Sidecar, the earliest mention of a sugar rim comes in the 1932 American cocktail book Wet Drinks for Dry People.)Ĭecchini compared the drink to a Daiquiri, in that every component of the recipe is vital to its success and must be carefully considered. It’s an accouterment that the cocktail picked up at some point and has never been able to shake. (A widely printed 1980 AP article asserted that the sugar rim was an American innovation. The sugar rim, meanwhile, was not part of the early recipes. ![]() It is usually paired with ¾ ounce lemon juice and ¾ to 1 once of orange liqueur. Or, as Johnson put it: “Fuck, no!” Instead, a heftier measurement of brandy is used, typically 1 ½ ounces to 2 ounces. Today’s bartenders, however, almost never go for the 1:1:1 recipes. Early recipes called for equal proportions of Cognac, lemon juice and orange liqueur, typically Cointreau. The drink is frequently mentioned in connection to Harry’s Bar in Paris, whose owner, Harry McElhone, included it in his 1922 book Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails. The Sidecar has long been associated with the early 20th-century expatriate scene in Europe, during the years Prohibition was in effect in the United States. “I think it’s a very hard drink to screw up,” he said, “though they’re often sweeter than I like.” And, in contrast to certain hard-to-please cocktail writers, he maintained he was satisfied with most of the Sidecars he’d been served in his barhopping. Cecchini called the cocktail one of his “go-to” drinks, saying he ordered it frequently in bars. Joining Johnson, Cecchini and Frechette as judges was William Elliott, of Maison Premiere and Sauvage in Brooklyn.Īmong the panelists, there was at least one Sidecar fanatic. On a recent afternoon at The Long Island Bar in Brooklyn, a panel of judges tasted through 10 examples of the drink, drawn from bartenders across the country (though New York was heavily represented-not surprising, given the city’s ingrained taste for the classics). That’s part of the fun of the drink.”Īnd so the blind tasting for the ultimate Sidecar began, proving yet again that classic cocktails, however simple they may seem in theory, continue to inspire debate. “I hate having rims on drinks, too, but the Sidecar’s a thing where I think you’re just being a spoilsport if you don’t have it. ![]() Without the crusta, it’s a different drink.”įalling somewhere between the two was Toby Cecchini, owner of The Long Island Bar. “It depends on the spec itself,” he said, noting that if the sugar is included, the drink should lean drier to maintain balance. Jelani Johnson, a bartender at Clover Club in Brooklyn, differed.
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