Apples are our ingredient of the season. So far we’ve done some baking and some drinking.
I don’t know about where you live, but here in Boulder we’ve had a string of chilly fall-like days with views of fresh snow on the mountains. What’s better on a chilly Thursday than a cocktail that warms you up from the inside out?! If you haven’t had a sidecar yet, get ready to sit back, enjoy it in front of the fire, and plan on doing nothing for the rest of the night.
Sidecars are traditionally made with cognac, triple sec, and lemon juice. Today we’re substituting an apple-infused brandy for the cognac. Funny thing – cognac and brandy are the same thing, but to be called a Cognac it must come from a specific region in France. In the past I’ve used Jacques Cardin’s Apple Flavored Cognac. Today we’re making it with Santa Fe Spirits Apple Brandy because we wanted to try something new, and it’s produced closer to home with apples grown in New Mexico!
Ingredients
- 2 parts cognac or brandy
- 1 part triple sec
- 1 part fresh lemon juice
- ice
- optional – simple syrup
The How-to
- Fill a cocktail shaker with ice
- Add all of the ingredients and shake
- Pour into the glass of your choosing, traditionally a cocktail glass would be used. I prefer a rocks glass… but then I thought that this would be perfect for drinking around a campfire, so why not use an enamel camping mug?!
- Garnish with a bit of apple & enjoy!
Extra Tips
- As I mentioned, this can be a strong drink. You can do a number of things to weaken the drink. Start by using some simple syrup – either adding 1 part to the mix above, substituting it for the triple sec, or using equal parts of your choosing. You can also serve the drink over ice to add even more water as you drink.
- I enjoyed sampling the sidecar with the Santa Fe brandy, but remember the Jacques Cardin cognac to be slightly smoother (although it’ll still knock your socks off).
