Sidecar 4

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The Sidecar was invented at Harry's Bar in Paris, about 1930. But to say it was "invented" then is a bit misleading, because the Sidecar was nothing more than a modernized version of a very old drink-one of the original cocktails that appeared in the first edition of Jerry Thomas's How to Mix Drinks, seventy years earlier-called the Brandy Crusta, which was invented in New Orleans by a man named Santini, a Spanish caterer of some note. The word crusta referred to dipping the rim of the glass in sugar and letting it dry into a crust. That crusted rim is an ingredient and an essential part of the Sidecar's presentation. For the drink itself, I use equal parts Cointreau and lemon juice rather than my normal formula of slightly more sweet than sour, creating a drink that's on the tart side, because you'll be getting extra sweet from the sugared crust. Don't substitute triple sec for the Cointreau, as most brands are both too sweet and too low in alcohol for this sweet-and-tart drink (for, in fact, nearly any drink). And speaking of what you should and should not use: The Sidecar is a cognac drink, an elegant drink to be made with premium ingredients, which means not with regular brandy. Finally, the orange-peel garnish is my own addition-a lemon peel is more common-because it's a better match with the Cointreau and makes for a better drink all around. And what about the name? You've probably heard that the drink was named for a regular customer at Harry's who arrived in a motorcycle that had a sidecar. But I don't believe it. The word sidecar means something totally different in the world of the cocktail: If the bartender misses his mark on ingredient quantities so when he strains the drink into the serving glass there's a bit left over in the shaker, he pours that little extra into a shot glass on the side-that little glass is called a sidecar. Every bartender should make sidecars, instead of pouring the extra down the drain, where it won't do anybody any good. And I think this may be where the cocktail got its name.