tantris sidecar

1 oz Cognac (Courvoisier VS)
1/2 oz Calvados (Boulard VSOP)
1/2 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
1/4 oz Pineapple Juice
1/4 oz Green Chartreuse

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass half rimmed with sugar; some recipes include a lemon twist so I did too.

I recently saw a reference to Audrey Saunder's Tantris Sidecar that she created at the Pegu Club, and I decided to revisit it. I returned to my pre-blog LiveJournal and was reminded that I made this shortly after reading about it in Chuck Taggart's blog post in 2007; therefore, I am utilizing that recipe here. Chuck described the concept as, "This takeoff on the sidecar turns the brandy into a Cognac-Calvados blend, the Cointreau into an orange-herb blend, and the lemon juice into a lemon-pineapple blend, maintaining the original character of the drink but adding many layers of additional flavors." Robert Simonson wrote about this riff in his A Proper Drink book, and he described in greater detail how Audrey broke down the juice component into primary and secondary acids of lemon and pineapple, respectively. Besides dividing the Cognac into a 2:1 mix with apple brandy, she split the orange liqueur with Chartreuse to add herbal notes in a way that reminds me of David Embury's Knight. Finally, the combination needed to be softened, so simple syrup was included "to add the fat."
The Tantris Sidecar welcomed the nose with aged grape and apple brandy aromas accented by orange and bright lemon notes. Next, a lemony sip drove into Cognac, Calvados, pineapple, orange peel, and Chartreuse's herbal flavors on the swallow.