We hadn’t had this in a while. It’s yet another luscious creation by The Libation Goddess, Audrey Saunders of The Pegu Club in New York [and now The Tar Pit in Los Angeles] — we’ll be sampling her sacramentally delicious creations at one of the Spirited Dinners at Tales of the Cocktail next month, woo!

This takeoff on the sidecar turns the brandy into a Cognac-Calvados blend, the Cointreau into an orange-herb blend, and the lemon juice into a lemon-pineapple blend, maintaining the original character of the drink but adding many layers of additional flavors. Gary Regan says in the next article, “Some folk like to rim the glass with sugar when serving a sidecar. I’m not one of them.” Nor am I, but I do sometimes like to compromise and coat half of the rim with sugar.

The Tantris Sidecar

1 ounce V.S. Cognac (e.g. Hennessey or Courvoisier).
1/2 ounce Busnel Calvados.
1/2 ounce Cointreau.
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice.
1/2 ounce simple syrup.
1/4 ounce green Chartreuse.
1/4 ounce pineapple juice.
Granulated sugar.

Rub a little lemon around the outside of a chilled cocktail glass and dredge it in the sugar, leaving a nice even stripe of sugar around the rim of the glass.

Combine all liquid ingredients with cracked ice in a cocktail shaker and shake for 10-12 seconds. Strain into the sugar-rimmed glass.

If Calvados isn’t on hand, try substituting Laird’s Straight Apple Brandy, which is really good stuff.