Thirsty Thursday

The Sidecar

This beauty is what we were sipping yesterday for National Happy Hour Day. Yep, there truly is a National Day for just about anything and National Happy Hour Day has to be one of our all-time faves. In fact, we’re thinking about hitting up change.org to make it a stat holiday.

Like all good holidays, this one needs to be celebrated with friends. So we invited our boozy BFF, Prairie Rose, of the tempting cocktail blog Bit By a Fox, to supply us with another of her delicious libations. After some fun banter about what would be a cocktail worthy of National Happy Hour Day, we decided on the classic Sidecar – a simple, yet deceptively delicious cocktail to come out of the Prohibition Era.

As you sit around in your comfy leather lounge chair, casually sipping a Sidecar and entertaining friends with your rapid repartee, you may want to drop this little piece of trivia:

Like any good, mysterious cocktail, the Sidecar’s history is as blurry as your head after a night of drinking them: both the Ritz Hotel in Paris and Buck’s Club in London claim to be the Sidecar’s the birthplace and no one really knows for sure.

Sidecar Cocktail

1 1/2 ounces Cognac
1 ounce Cointreau
1/2 ounce lemon juice

Add ingredients to an ice-filled shaker. Shake 8-10 seconds until the outside of the shaker is well chilled. Strain into a coupe or cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist. A sugar rim is optional.