Side Car – Original Recipe & History

May 2, 2021

Side Car

5 from 1 vote

Course: DrinksCuisine: French

Servings

servings

Calories

229

kcal

ABV

32%

Total time

minutes

Learn how to make a classic Side Car.

Ingredients

US Metric

1.5 oz 45 ml Lemon Juice
1.5 oz 45 ml Orange Liqueur
1.5 oz 45 ml Brandy

Directions

Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker.
Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake until the ice fully melts.
Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a glass.
Garnish:
Sugar rim

Notes

Tools Used: Cocktail Shaker, Jigger, Double Strainer, Strainer
Serving Glass: Coupe Glass

The History Of The Side Car

The Side Car is often considered a French cocktail, which I believed too for many years, but it is British. Barman Pat MacGarry invented the Side-Car at Buck’s Club sometime between 1919 and 1923. We know this because the earliest printed recipe for the Side Car comes from the 1923 book “Harry of Ciro’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails” by Harry McElhone. McElhone credits Pat MacGarry for inventing the Side Car while at Buck’s Club. In the 1925 Frech cocktail book “L’Art du Shaker” by Dominique Migliorero. Migliorero also credits the creation of the Side Car to MacGarry of London. Buck’s Club opened in 1919. Therefore Pat MacGarry had to have invented it between 1919 and 1923.

The History Of Buck’s Club London

The Buck Club was founded in 1919 by Herbert Buckmaster of the Royal Horse Guard. Herbert Buckmaster intended Buck’s Club to be an upper-class club with less of the stuffiness of other elite London clubs. One of Buckmaster’s requirements for the club was it should have an American-style bar. Not uncommon in hotels that served guests from overseas, but the idea of an American Bar in a prestigious invite-only boys club was unheard of. Buckmaster hired Pat MacGarry to head his American Bar. MacGarry never published his own cocktail book, but he is credited with having invented the Buck’s Fizz and the side-car. To this day, Buck’s Club is still an all-boys, invitation-only club.