Drink · 4 min · 1 coupe
Sidecar
Cognac, orange liqueur, lemon. The proportions are argued over endlessly; start equal and pull the liqueur back if it is cloying.
The sheet · 1 coupe · 4 min
easyWhy tonight. Cognac, orange liqueur, lemon. The proportions are argued over endlessly; start equal and pull the liqueur back if it is cloying.
What it needs
Nothing confirmed on your shelf yet — this list is the whole ask.
- cognac
- cointreau
- lemon
Method
- 1½ oz cognac, ¾ oz Cointreau, ¾ oz lemon. Shake hard, strain up.
- Sugar on half the rim, if any at all — a full rim of sugar on an already-sweet drink is why this fell out of fashion.
- Cointreau is both the sweetener and the orange. Do not add syrup as well.
- Taste and adjust the lemon, not the cognac. Fruit varies; the spirit does not.
An educational pour, not a reprint of a licensed spec. No allergen or alcohol-safety claim.
Cook or pour it, then edit the shelf if you emptied a bottle or used the last of something.
Why each of these is on the list
What the ingredients are actually doing
- cognac
- Grape spirit with fruit and oak, which makes it rounder and less spiky than whiskey in the same drink.
- cointreau
- Clean bitter orange with real sweetness behind it, so it does two jobs in a sour and lets you use less syrup.
- lemon
- Acid you add at the end, not the start.
Missing one of them? The substitutions are written against those jobs rather than against a chart, so they say what each replacement costs this dish in particular.
Cooks from the same box
If you bought for this, you can already make these
Shares cognac, cointreau, lemon
Between the Sheets
Sidecar cousin with rum in the split. Shake hard, small glass.
Shares cognac, lemon, cointreau
Brandy Crusta
Sidecar's older cousin. Sugar rim optional. The peel should be long.
Shares cognac, lemon
Brandy sour
The sour template on cognac, which is rounder and more fruit-driven than whiskey. It takes less sugar than you expect.
Shares cointreau, lemon
Corpse Reviver No. 2
Gin, Cointreau, Lillet and lemon in equal parts, with an absinthe rinse. It is a brunch drink and it is dangerously easy.
Next
Cook it, then tell the shelf what you used.
The ranking is only as honest as the shelf behind it. Empty the cream, and everything that leaned on cream should stop being offered.