What Is A Sidecar?

As often with old classic cocktails there are many different stories about the origin. The Sidecar, possibly the most famous of the cognac cocktails, is no different. The two most common stories both involve an army captain arriving to a bar in the sidecar of a motorcycle sometime during World War I. The bartender mixing the first Sidecar was either Harry MacElhone at the famous Harry’s New York Bar in Paris or Pat MacGarry, bartender at the Buck’s Club in London and inventor of the Buck’s Fizz. However Harry MacElhone himself gave MacGarry credit for the cocktail in his book ”Barflies and Cocktails” from 1927.

Another explanation for the name is that it rather derives from a bartending term for the leftovers in the shaker after pouring the drink. This is poured into a shot glass and served alongside the cocktail and is called the ”sidecar”.

The cocktail was first published in two books in 1922, “Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails” by Harry MacElhone and “Cocktails and How to Mix Them” by Robert Vermeire. Both original recipes calls for equal parts Cognac, Cointreau and lemon juice but as time passed the ratios have been altered to two parts Cognac, one part Cointreau and one part lemon juice.

The silver cocktail glass is called Millennium and was designed in 2000 by Lella & Massimo Vignelli.

Sidecar

2 parts Cognac

1 part Cointreau

1 part Lemon juice

Shake ingredients with ice. Strain into chilled glass. Garnish with an orange twist.