The Remy Sidecar

Several of my friends are known for their favorite cocktail. There's Matt, who drinks Ketel One and still water — and drinks it so often that we've named it the Keeney-tini. There's Ellen, who drinks Cosmos made with Stoli Ohranj, no lime and no lime juice. And then there's Deb, who only drinks Sidecars. She's such an aficionado of the Sidecar that she actually has business cards she hands to bartenders with her version of the perfect Sidecar recipe printed on them: 3 parts Sour, 1 part Brandy, 1 part Cointreau, sugar on the rim, straight up. So when we went to the bar at Encore, the delightful restaurant in the Lowenstein complex attached to the Tattered Cover, and Deb found the Remy Sidecar ($8) on the menu, she was ecstatic. She told me that she's been drinking Sidecars since her residency, and originally printed the cards because she couldn't remember the recipe with all the other important information she was cramming into her brain. Today the cards come in handy because so many bartenders are clueless about what makes a good Sidecar. But not the bartender at Encore. When our cocktails arrived, Deb took a sip — and instantly determined that this drink ranks in the top five Sidecars she's ever had. And she's had a lot of Sidecars. Encore!