The sidecar is a cocktail traditionally made with brandy (usually cognac), orange liqueur (Cointreau, Grand Marnier, dry curaçao, or a triple sec), and lemon juice.

Daisies in general and the sidecar in particular are considered more of a challenge for bartenders because the proportion of ingredients is more difficult to balance for liqueurs of variable sweetness.

McIntyre reports in his 1937 summary of a visit to New York City that bartenders there attributed the drink to American expatriates Erskine Gywnne and Basil Woon.

Embury also states the drink is simply a daiquiri with brandy as its base rather than rum, and with Cointreau as the sweetening agent rather than sugar syrup.

[5] The earliest known mention of sugaring the rim on a sidecar glass is in the 1932 American cocktail book Wet Drinks for Dry People.

Recipes of the craft cocktail renaissance of the 2000s are closer to the British ratio of 2:1:1, but almost always add sugar syrup, as the drink is otherwise considered too dry and tart.