Sidecar

Wayfinder

A Sidecar is a cognac sour: 50ml cognac, 20ml Cointreau or another triple sec and 20ml fresh lemon juice, shaken hard and double strained into a chilled coupe under an expressed strip of lemon peel. The IBA gives these measures, which put the cognac at two and a half parts to one each of orange and lemon. The Oxford Companion dates the first printed recipes to 1922, in Robert Vermeire’s Cocktails: How to Mix Them in May and Harry MacElhone’s Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails at the end of the year, both at equal parts by Difford’s Guide. Both named Pat MacGarry of Buck’s Club in London; Difford’s says later editions of MacElhone’s book appear to take the credit for himself. The sugared rim came later: the earliest mention we have read is a 1932 American book, and the Oxford Companion says the drink has often been served with one since the 1930s. Ours has no rim. Each Sidecar carries about 2.8 UK units.

ShakenAperitifAfter-DinnerCelebratoryClassic

Glassware: Coupe Glass

Garnish: Lemon peel

Ingredients

Serves

Cognac

50ml

VS or VSOP, at 40% ABV. It leads with dried fruit and some oak. Older cognac brings more tannin than the citrus can carry; another grape brandy works, and makes a plainer drink.

Triple Sec

20ml

Cointreau (40% ABV on Cointreau’s own nutrition page) is the common pick and the bottle we balance the drink around. A cheaper triple sec is often sweeter and less orange; a dry curaçao makes it richer and heavier.

Fresh lemon juice

20ml

Squeezed the same day. The 20ml is all the acid there is to set against the Cointreau’s sugar, and lemons vary more than anything else in the glass.

Instructions

Squeeze the lemon juice the same day.

Chill a coupe.

Add the cognac, triple sec and lemon juice to a shaker.

Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.

Double strain into the chilled coupe.

Express a wide strip of lemon peel over the drink and rest it on the rim.

Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification; method ours). Last checked 9 October 2026.

Expert Tip

Taste before you pour. Cointreau is consistent and lemons are not, so the same measures can come out sharp in one season and soft in another. If it is sharp, add 5ml of Cointreau; if sweet, 5ml more lemon. Change one at a time. Use a VS or VSOP cognac. Younger cognac keeps its fruit forward against the citrus; older bottles bring oak tannin that dries the finish and fights the lemon. Shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strain into a frozen coupe. Served up, the drink starts warming as soon as it is poured.

The story

Behind the Sidecar

Flavour Profile

CitrusDried FruitOrangeDryAromatic

Two Books, One Barman

The Sidecar first appears in print in 1922, in two books: Harry MacElhone’s Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails and Robert Vermeire’s Cocktails: How to Mix Them, as the Oxford Companion records. Both give it as equal parts cognac, Cointreau and lemon, and both name Pat MacGarry of Buck’s Club in London.

MacElhone’s early editions credit the recipe to MacGarry, as the 1923 impression of his book prints it; Vermeire says the drink was very popular in France and that MacGarry introduced it in London. Difford’s Guide says MacElhone’s later editions appear to credit himself, and quotes David Embury, in 1948, saying a friend of his invented it at a bar in Paris during the First World War. Buck’s Club also gives its name to the Buck’s Fizz.

French School, English School

The Sidecar’s proportions over time, from Difford’s Guide’s account and the IBA

MacElhone and Vermeire, 1922

Cognac: One part
Cointreau: One part
Lemon: One part
Rim: None

Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930

Cognac: Two parts
Cointreau: One part
Lemon: One part
Rim: None

IBA, and ours

Cognac: 50ml
Cointreau: 20ml
Lemon: 20ml
Rim: None

Version	Cognac	Cointreau	Lemon	Rim
MacElhone and Vermeire, 1922	One part	One part	One part	None
Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930	Two parts	One part	One part	None
IBA, and ours	50ml	20ml	20ml	None

The equal-parts drink is sharp and led by orange. The Savoy’s two to one to one puts the cognac in front, and that shape has lasted. The IBA’s measures lean a little further towards the cognac.

The Sugar Rim

MacElhone’s recipe, as the 1923 impression of his book prints it, has no rim. The earliest mention of sugaring a Sidecar glass that we have read is Wet Drinks for Dry People, an American book of 1932, which has the glass’s edge moistened with lemon juice and dipped in powdered sugar. The older Brandy Crusta has a sugared rim too: Jerry Thomas’s guide of 1862 has the glass rubbed with lemon and dipped in pulverized sugar, which may be where the habit came from.

A rim sweetens one side of the glass and not the other, so the drink changes from sip to sip. Ours has none. For a drink built around one, see the Brandy Crusta.

What Each Part Does

Cognac supplies dried fruit, some oak and the body. Cointreau brings orange and the sugar that answers the lemon. The lemon stops the drink turning heavy, and because lemons vary, it is the part to taste for.

In Difford’s Guide’s quotation of The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, David Embury described the Sidecar as a Daiquiri made with brandy, with Cointreau in place of sugar syrup. As a summary of the structure, it holds.

How Strong It Is

Counting cognac at our working figure of 40% ABV and Cointreau at the 40% on its own nutrition page, a Sidecar comes to about 2.8 UK units, against 2.4 for our Daiquiri, and it is served short with no ice. Make it just before drinking; it softens as it warms.

Make it

Make it at home

The Spirit

Cognac

Cognac is a grape spirit distilled twice from white wine in copper pot stills in the Cognac area of western France and, under INAO’s specification, aged at least two years in oak and sold at no less than 40% ABV. The letters on the label are minimum ages, by the BNIC’s account: VS at least two years, VSOP four, XO ten. A VS or VSOP is what our cocktails assume.

Learn more

Master the Techniques

How to shake a cocktailin Shaken or stirred? When to shake or stir a cocktail

Go further

More to explore

Frequently Asked Questions

What is in a Sidecar?

Cognac, triple sec and fresh lemon juice. The IBA measures, which we use, are 50ml cognac, 20ml triple sec and 20ml lemon, shaken hard and strained into a chilled glass. Ours is finished with an expressed strip of lemon peel; the IBA lists no garnish.

Should a Sidecar have a sugar rim?

Not in our recipe. The earliest mention of sugaring the glass that we have read is in a 1932 American book, Wet Drinks for Dry People, ten years after the first recipes. A rim adds sugar to every sip on one side of the glass, so if the drink is too sharp, adjust the Cointreau instead.

Who invented the Sidecar?

Nobody knows for certain. Harry MacElhone and Robert Vermeire both printed it in 1922 and both named Pat MacGarry of Buck’s Club in London, MacElhone as its inventor and Vermeire as the man who introduced it there. Difford’s Guide adds that later editions of MacElhone’s book appear to credit himself, and that Vermeire’s French edition of 1938 names the south of France as its home.

How strong is a Sidecar?

About 2.8 UK units, taking the cognac at our working figure of 40% ABV and the Cointreau at 40% on Cointreau’s own nutrition page. It is short and served without ice, so that alcohol sits in a small glass. UK units are ABV times millilitres divided by 1,000; the Chief Medical Officers’ guideline is no more than 14 units a week, spread over three or more days.

What ratio should a Sidecar be?

It depends on the school. Difford’s Guide says the 1922 recipes are equal parts cognac, triple sec and lemon, called the French school. The Savoy Cocktail Book of 1930 doubled the cognac, the English school. The IBA, and ours, sits nearer the English: 50ml cognac to 20ml of each of the others.

How does a Sidecar differ from a White Lady?

In the base, and a little in the balance. Both are spirit, orange liqueur and lemon, shaken and served up. Cognac makes the Sidecar rich, with dried fruit; gin makes the White Lady drier and sharper. Ours pours the White Lady at 40ml gin, 30ml triple sec and 20ml lemon.

Which cognac should I use in a Sidecar?

A VS or VSOP. Younger cognacs keep fresh fruit and enough body to lead the drink without much oak. An XO brings tannin and a heavier dried fruit that sits awkwardly with lemon, and it costs far more than the drink can show.

Sources.

Checked between 18 October and 19 October 2026.

The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (David Wondrich), “The Sidecar” (secondary source: first in print in 1922, Vermeire in May and McElhone at the end of the year; the south of France in Vermeire’s 1938 edition; Frank Meier’s 1923 list; two schools of mixing; the sugar rim since the 1930s).
Internet Archive, “The Bar-Tender’s Guide (Jerry Thomas, 1862)” (scanned reproduction of the 1862 book, no. 116 Brandy Crusta: the rim rubbed with lemon and dipped in pulverized white sugar).
IBA, “Sidecar” (official specification: 50ml cognac, 20ml triple sec, 20ml fresh lemon juice; garnish N/A).
Cointreau, “Nutritional information” (maker’s page: Cointreau 40% alcohol per volume).
Difford’s Guide, “Sidecar Cocktail Recipe” (secondary source: Embury 1948; MacElhone’s 1922 ABC credits MacGarry; Vermeire’s May 1922 recipe; equal parts against the Savoy’s 2:1:1; the French and English schools).
Internet Archive, “Harry of Ciro’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails (second impression, 1923)” (scanned reproduction: no. 229 Side-Car Cocktail, “Recipe by MacGarry, the popular bar-tender at Buck’s Club, London”).
Internet Archive, “Wet Drinks for Dry People (William C. Feery, 1932)” (scanned reproduction: the Side Car with the glass edge moistened with lemon juice and dipped in powdered sugar).