The Sidecar

Two parts strong, one part sweet, and one part sour: These are the golden proportions of the classic cocktail, the Pythagorean formula of bibulous bliss. If you make the strong parts vodka arrived on the scene and ruined almost everything. And if you can make a brilliant Sidecar, you can make many a classic cocktail.

The Sidecar has been in full resurgence during the last year, meaning that both sublime and execrable versions have appeared in the bars we frequent. Out on the town, it's easy to tell whether bartenders know their trade by watching them prepare this libation. A neatly sugar-coated rim, a pale opacity, a biting chill off the glass, and a tartness that makes it impossible to tell where the lemon lets off and the Cointreau begins - these are signs that you've got a live one. If you see them reach for the sweet-and-sour mix, however, you're flat out of luck.

One advantage of developing an attachment to this drink is that you have at least a 10 percent chance of getting one at any non-dive bar - and the chances are rising, though the quality isn't. "This cocktail is the most perfect example I know of a magnificent drink gone wrong," explained David A. Embury in The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. "It was invented by a friend of mine at a bar in Paris, during World War I, and was named after a motorcycle sidecar in which the good captain customarily was driven to and from the little bistro where the drink was born and christened." Mr. Embury doesn't name his friend, so we can only wonder if Harry, of Harry's New York Bar in Paris, had first mixed the drink, as is quietly rumored. But even Harry's grandson, Duncon MacElhone, seems unsure, merely mentioning that "the history of the Sidecar is most confusing." So we've decided to expend our energy researching the Sidecar's recipe instead of its past.

Few drinks have as many variations as the Sidecar. When overwhelmed by our options, we revert to common sense as first presented by Mr. Embury: The Sidecar is essentially a Daiquiri made with brandy and lemon in place of rum and lime. From there, we mix - partial, as always, to this drink's classic proportions.

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