Testing Sidecar Finishing Touches

Just like the Daiquiri, it feels like the classic ratio is missing something - so let's find it

Something about the most classic daisy ratios just falls ever-so-slightly flat for me. They become very basic, maybe a bit too clean, and they often rely on some funkiness that just stops coming through for some reason. This happened with the Daiquiri, and it’s happened again with the Sidecar. But I think the Sidecar needs a different fix than the Daiquiri did.

A Reminder

The standard ratio that isn’t working is a 2-1-1:

• 2 oz Cognac

• 1 oz Cointreau

• 1 oz lemon juice

I think it needs a small hit - half an ounce or less, of something sweet and maybe a little weird. Maybe something like:

With Turbinado Syrup

Some extra syrup in the mix helped elevate the Margarita, so can it pull the same trick here? Kind of. It makes the drink sweeter, of course, but it doesn’t do much else. The Cognac isn’t highlighted any more (nor is the funk that comes with it), and the finish is still very citrus-bitter in a way that hides a lot of what else is happening. I’m not sure this is a better cocktail.

With Cherry Juice

A little extra cocktail cherry juice was the finishing touch on my Old Fashioned, but what does it do in a much different cocktail structure? It really mellows out the sourness from the lemon, almost completely taking that edge off. The finish also gets much funkier (though not necessarily the cherry pit funk I often taste with this), and overall there’s a new almost-nuttiness across the palate. The new fruit and nut highlights do amplify the Cognac a bit, but I think maybe too much bite is removed here.

With Cynar

I was worried the added bitterness may result in nothing else here, but that’s not at all the case. The cocktail is still very much sweet and sour across the board, but it finishes with a different bitterness than the lemon gives alone. That bitterness helps amp up all of the other flavors, including the grapey sweetness in the Cognac, but it still doesn’t taste fully balanced to me. That amperage bump doesn’t really help the “all over the place” issues I have with the standard.

With Sweet Vermouth

This drink is funky from the jump. It’s as if all of that piece of the Cognac is spread throughout the drink much more evenly, to the point that for whatever reason the best descriptor that kept popping into my head was “juicy.” This is weird grape juice in the same way that lots of natural wines are, and I mean that positively in this case. This calms down the sourness without disappearing it, and its a balanced strange drink from start to finish.

The Winner: Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth

The most balanced, the most unique, and the most Cognac-forward option here. I really, really like it.

Here’s the breakdown (a slightly-stronger result than the Daiquiri or Margarita):