The Sidecar cocktail

The Sidecar is a classic cocktail from the golden age of the bar. In 1920, the cocktail and the attitude to life it conveys definitely arrived in Europe. Already years before some bars were opened in the European metropolises; the American Bar had found its place in large hotels.

Due to Prohibition from 1920 to 1933, many American bartenders emigrated to Europe, which led to a boom in the European bar world.

Harry MacElhone

One of these exiles, even if he was not a true American, was Harry MacElhone. He was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1890 and worked as a bartender in New York until 1920. He then moved back to Europe, where he began working at the New York Bar in Paris.

Three years later he was able to take it over. He is said to have created many important drinks: White Lady, Bloody Mary, Sidecar, Boulevardier and even French 75. Whether he invented all of these cocktails can no longer be said or even disproved today.

Alleged author

The Sidecar is one of the first cocktails associated with Harry's New York Bar in Paris. Harry MacElhone published the recipe in his cocktail book Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails in 1922, but apparently the Sidecar was not created by him.

In the first edition, he named Pat MacGarry as the originator of the drink. This raises the question of why MacElhone is doing this when he is in fact the Sidecar-father. At the same time, Robert Vermiere, another Barkeeper from Belgium, publishes his book entitled "Cocktails and How to Mix Them".

It also contains a Sidecar cocktail. This raises the further question of whether the Sidecar was invented in Paris at all or perhaps in London, where Vermiere was active until 1922 according to history books.

If the Sidecar originates from the United Kingdom, the variant with brandy (instead of cognac) naturally makes more sense. Brandy would also be appropriate as a base, if David A. Embury is to be believed. He claimed that the Sidecar is a Brandy Daisy that has been increasingly slimmed down over the years.

And as if all this were not confusing enough, the Ritz Bar in Paris also lays claim to authorship.

Origin of the sidecar

So it remains extremely unclear where the cocktail really has its origin. It also remains unclear whether it is mixed with brandy or cognac (I, for one, prefer the Sidecar with cognac).

The origin of the drink's name remains controversial. There are, of course, the craziest stories about it. Of course, they all have something to do with the sidecar of a motorbike. But whether it served as a sleeping place for drunks or rushed through the window into Harry's bar remains a mystery.

The story of the American policeman who was chauffeured to the French cocktail bars in a sidecar during or shortly after the First World War would fit. Because the following can be said with certainty: the birth of the sidecar falls in the period from 1918 to 1922.

The "too big classic

The cocktail is far too big a classic to be included on a small, select menu. Especially in cooler seasons, the Sidecar wanders over the bar counter every now and then. If guests want something sour and refreshing, a Sidecar is wonderful, because the cognac gives it something noble and earthy at the same time.

These aromas of wood, which come into the cocktail through the storage of the cognac, go very well with winter. So, now I wish you lots of fun with the remix.