I have René Engel to thank for getting me to like these, back in the late ’90s.

I learned a bit more about this drink during Chad Solomon and Christy Pope’s brandy seminar in Los Angeles in 2007, sponsored by Hennessy Cognac, during the part where they were tracing the development of cocktails in Europe.

While the cocktail can be called America’s first great contribution to the culinary arts, the Europeans finally started to catch up in the early 20th Century. One classic that emerged from that period, and is perhaps the best-known brandy cocktail today, despite its relative obscurity with the general drinking public, is the Sidecar, which emerged around the end of World War I. As with many cocktails there are myriad stories as to its origin; Harry MacElhone, in his classic work Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails, cites a bartender from London by the name of Pat MacGarry. David Embury, author of The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, gives credit to an American officer in Paris who asked a bartender for a kind of brandy sour and named it after the side car of his motorcycle. Whoever did it … well, thanks. We like it.

And whoever did it … it’s not an entirely original concept, having descended from the Crusta, and being in a category of drinks Gary Regan calls “New Orleans Sours;” i.e., spirit, orange liqueur, citrus. The original proportion, as it was made in France during its beginnings, were equal proportions of brandy, triple sec and lemon juice. Perhaps it’s just that tastes have changed, but in this proportion I place this into a category of drinks I call “Not Very Good.” Not bad, just undistinguished. Try a small one, with 1/2 ounce of each ingredient — I suspect you’ll agree.

Later on the proportions evolved to 2 parts brandy and 1 each of triple sec and lemon juice, which some people still favor but others find too tart. Try it and see what you think.

For a while I started making them in the “classic” proportion of 4:2:1 (which is incidentally a good starting-off point if you’re trying to create a new drink with spirit, liqueur and citrus; you can vary from there as you need, and add seasoning via dashes of this and that). That’d be 2 ounces Cognac, 1 Cointreau and 1/2 lemon. Still a good drink.

However, Christy and Chad, as well as several of the other bartenders present, favor a 3:2:1 proportion, which oddly enough is the proportion I’d been using for my Margaritas but not my Sidecars. I will now. It was goo-ooo-ood.

Sidecar

1-1/2 ounces Cognac.
1 ounce Cointreau.
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice.

Combine with cracked ice in a cocktail shaker and shake for
no less than 10-12 seconds. Strain into a sugar-rimmed
cocktail glass.

Gaz Regan is quick to point out that you will have to adjust the proportion and balance of the ingredients depending on which Cognac you use; Courvoisier does not give you the same Sidecar as Hennessy does! Experiment! It’s fun!

I’m not a huge fan of the traditional sugar rim either, so a good compromise to satisfy every guest is to sugar only half the rim. Don’t ever use one of those sponge-dipper glass rimmers, either. To rim a glass with sugar (or salt for Margaritas) rub a cut piece of lemon on the outside of the glass and dredge the moistened exterior rim of the glass in a saucer of bar sugar.

One of three cocktails we had to celebrate Bastille Day today, it’s also referred to as a Pompier (“Fireman”) and is a very traditional French cocktail. We recommend Dolin Extra Dry or Noilly Prat Original Dry.

Vermouth Cassis

3 ounces French (dry) vermouth.
1/2 ounce crème de cassis.

Combine over ice in an Old Fashioned glass and stir. You may
also combine over ice in a Collins glass, add soda or seltzer
to taste and stir.

Sip this and sing along with the fabulous Robert Preston in “Victor/Victoria” …

They make each moment as gay
As le quatorze juillet!
It’s what they mean
When they say
Gay Par-eeeeee!

Felicitations, much happiness and biddings of long life go out to our good friends Mary Jane Amato and Chris Clarke, who got married on a perfect, beautiful Saturday in May of 2005.

We were honored that they asked us to come up with a new cocktail for the occasion, which would be served to the wedding guests. Mixological duties fell to Wes this time, who had been knocking around some ideas in his head for Belle de Brillet (a French Cognac-based pear liqueur) for a while and eventually came up with this gem, which is a relative of the Footloose Cocktail and was a big hit at the reception. Even people who don’t normally quaff cocktails loved this one. (We were delighted to hear that MJ’s grandmother, normally very wary of drinking, had at one point finished her second and was considering a third!)

The Mary Jane Cocktail

2 ounces vanilla-infused vodka.
1 ounce Belle de Brillet.
1/2 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice.
2 healthy dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters.

Shake with cracked ice for 10 seconds and strain into a chilled cocktail glass; garnish with a lime twist.

 
 

Not to be outdone, the groom had a drink named after him as well. “The Christopher Michael”, however, was a bit simpler, and was described thusly on the menu: “A bottle of beer.” Natch.

Congratulations, youse two nutty kids!

[Updated in 2010.]

‘Member a while back, when the Regans called for entries in a cocktail-creating competition? The idea was to honor the late Hunter S. Thompson by creating a cocktail in his honor.

The results are in, via this month’s issue of Gary and Mardee’s Ardent Spirits newsletter. Some of the entries were, predictably, weird.

We got one drink from Chris Gallagher of PUG! Muddler fame that called for a toothbrush garnish, and we haven’t quite figured that one out yet. Another submission, this one from bartender Joe Gonzalez, resulted in a drink that looks like a lava lamp when assembled. Pretty creative, huh?

And of course we had to get one recipe that called for an illicit substance, so we weren’t surprised when Nancy Breslow, a recent graduate of Cocktails in the Country, suggested that the glass containing her “Gonzo Martini” be rimmed with cocaine. “IF (and only if) cocaine is ever legalized,” she added, covering her tail quite nicely. And you seemed so prim in class, Nancy…

The winning entry was submitted by the ever-fabulous LeNell Smothers, former owner of LeNell’s in Brooklyn (one of the greatest spirits shops ever) and currently living in Casa Cóctel in La Paz, Baja California, México. While I can’t necessariy see Hunter drinking too many of these and winding up whapping big hairy bats with a yardstick, Gary opines that Hunter would have approved. We’ll try this one this weekend.

The Fear and Loathing Cocktail

1 slice pink grapefruit, cut about 1/2 inch thick, peel removed.
2 barspoons bar sugar, superfine or granulated sugar.
4 dashes Fee’s Peach Bitters.
3 ounces Bellows Bourbon.

Muddle the grapefruit with the sugar and the bitters in a large Old Fashioned glass. Add the ice and the bourbon, stir the drink and serve.

Seems mighty Suth’un to me — unsurprising, considering that LeNell is from Alabama. I’ll wear my seersucker suit while we’re tippling.

Our pal Chris Viljoen has sent in yet another fascinating cocktail recipe, providing a glimpse of the cocktailian culture in Brazil. Chris says this drink is very popular in São Paulo at the moment.

This was the most fascinating one yet, although one that can get a little expensive. It calls for fresh passion fruit pulp, two passion fruits’ worth for each drink, and in supermarkets those little suckers can go for $2.50 each. Try to find one in a farmer’s market, where the price is more likely to be reasonable … or else, move to a place like Brazil, where I assume they’re cheap and plentiful.

Make sure your passion fruits are wrinkly but not dry and overly shriveled before you cut them in half and scoop out the pulp — that’s when they’re at the height of their ripeness.

You can make vanilla sugar by slicing a vanilla bean in half and, after scraping the seeds out for another use, placing the bean husk in a bowl of sugar. The bean pod will add a wonderful flavor and aroma to the sugar. I didn’t have any of that handy, so I used Monin’s Organic Vanilla syrup, which is an excellent, shelf-stable product.

Chris says he watched the bartender as he made it, but the guy wouldn’t give him the measurements under orders from his stinky boss. It may need some tweaking, but was pretty good as is.

Capeta Paulista
(“Capeta” means “devil” in Portuguese)

3 ounces passion fruit (grenadilla in Portuguese) pulp.
1-1/2 ounces cachaça.
Juice of 1/2 lime.
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar (or 1/2 ounce vanilla syrup).
1 small pinch cayenne pepper.
 

Shake well with a few large cubes of ice. Take out any remaining ice and pour into a cocktail glass. Don’t strain, because you want to keep the pits.

It has a really different taste.

It was pretty weird, but really enjoyable. The slight tartness of the ripe passion fruit pulp with its heavenly tropical perfume, the additional perfume of the vanilla, the tartness of the lime and the touch of fire from the cayenne (the weirdest part) made for quite an experience. Maybe when the weather gets warmer we’ll have these as well as Caipirinhas. Thanks again, Chris!