Side-car
The Side-car is a Cocktail consisting of Cognac, Cointreau (Triple Sec), and Fresh Lemon Juice.
The History of the Side-car
Robert Vermiere says (1922): "This cocktail is very popular in France. It was first introduced in London by MacGarry, the celebrated bar-tender of Buck's Club".
Harry MacElhone says (1922), "Recipe by MacGarry, the Popular bar-tender at Buck's Club, London."
MacGarry was the first bartender at the Bucks Club, when it opened in 1918.
Buck's Club: 18 Clifford Street London, England W1S 3RF. 020 7734 2337.
Side-car Myth
The Sidecar was originally invented at a bar in Paris, France for one of the patrons who was fond of arriving driven in a motorcycle sidecar.
First Listed Recipes for the Side-Car (8:8:8 ratio)
The first recipe for the Side-car appears in 1922, in Robert Vermiere's Cocktails: How to Mix Them.
Side-Car
Fill the shaker half full of broken ice and add:
- 1/6 gill of fresh Lemon Juice.
- 1/6 gill of Cointreau.
- 1/6 gill of Cognac Brandy.
Shake well and strain into a Cocktail Glass.
This cocktail is very popular in France. It was first introduced in London by MacGarry, the celebrated bar-tender of Buck's Club
In his book after giving his Side-car recipe, Harry MacElhone writes, "Recipe by MacGarry, the Popular bar-tender at Buck's Club, London."
Historical References
18 May 1923, COSHOCTON TRIBUNE
"Another new cocktail, second only in popularity to the monkey gland, has been named a "side-car," because it takes the imbiber for a ride. Two-thirds brandy, one-sixth Cointreau and one-sixth lemon juice make up this concoction."
"The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks" (1948) by David Embury
"This cocktail is the most perfect example I know of a magnificent drink gone wrong. It was invented by a friend of mine at a bar in Paris during World War I and was named after the motercycle sidecar in which the good captain customarily was driven to and from the little bistro where the drink was born and christened. As originally concocted it contained some six or seven ingredients in place of the three now set forth in practically all recipe books."
Historical Recipes (with drink ratios)
Recipe: Robert Vermiere, (8:8:8)
- 1/6 gill of fresh Lemon Juice.
- 1/6 gill of Cointreau.
- 1/6 gill of Cognac Brandy.
Shake well and strain into a Cocktail Glass.
Recipe: 18th May 1923, News Paper Article (8:2:2)
- 2 oz brandy,
- 1/2 oz Cointreau,
- 1/2 oz Fresh Lemon Juice.
Shake with Ice, and then strain into Cocktail Glass.
Recipe: Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book (8:4:4)
- 2 oz Brandy,
- 1 oz Cointreau,
- 1 oz Fresh Lemon Juice.
Shake with Ice, and then strain into Cocktail Glass.
Recipe: David Embury (8:1:2)
- 2 oz Brandy,
- 1/2 oz Fresh Lemon Juice,
- 1/4 oz Cointreau.
Shake with ice. Strain into cocktail glass.
The Side-Car is similar to what other drinks?
Certainly the Brandy Crusta is in there. Also in there, though, is the Brandy Daisy. While this began its life as a Brandy Fizz--brandy, juice of half a lemon, dashes of gum syrup--with orange cordial in place of some of the sugar, by the 1880s it was served in a cocktail glass rather than a fizz glass, and had only a little fizz water in it. By 1900, one even finds an English recipe omitting the fizz water altogether (although, truth be told, it also omits the orange cordial, substituting Yellow Chartreuse). Somewhere out of all this, the Sidecar emerged. Its proportions of lemon juice and orange cordial are much more like those of the Daisy, while it loses the bubbles and swipes the Crusta's sugar rim.
The Sugar rim on the Side-Car
The earliest mention for the sugar rim on the Sidecar glass is 1934, in three different books:
Burke's Complete Cocktail & Drinking Recipes,
Gordon's Cocktail & Food Recipes,
Drinks As They Are Mixed (a reprint of Paul E. Lowe's 1904 book, with a couple of pages of "Popular Specials" spliced it).
