I'm sorry I'm late with the COCKTAIL of the week. I had a nice four day weekend. This weeks cocktail is one of my favorites if I've stocked brandy. Give it a try, and -- Enjoy.
The Sidecar
Text and Mixology by David Wondrich
Background
The Sidecar is often singled out as the only good cocktail to come out of the long national nightmare that was Prohibition. And when you're sipping one, you almost think it was all worth it. The luminous, golden-straw color, the perfectly controlled sweetness, the jazzy high notes of the citrus against the steady bass of the brandy. This is a drink whose suavité is beyond question—it's the Warren Beatty of modern mixology. It's so easy, in fact, to be seduced by this clever old roué that a word of caution would not be out of place here. These gents have a way of stealing up on you and—bimmo! Next thing you know it's 8:43 on Monday morning and you're sitting in the back seat of a taxi idling in front of your place of employ. In your skivvies.
While unanimity prevails as to what goes into a Sidecar, there's considerable dissension about the proportions. The so-called French school holds to a Trinitarian philosophy—three equal parts. I like more of the Holy Ghost in mine.
Recipe
Shake well with cracked ice:
1 oz Cointreau
1 oz lemon juice (more or less the juice of 1/2 lemon)
2 oz brandy or cognac
Strain into chilled cocktail glass that has had its rim rubbed with lemon juice and dipped in sugar.
