No. 68Off the Menu
Pickle Sidecar
Cognac and orange, sugar on the rim and salt in the glass.
The Pickle Sidecar is the classic cognac sidecar, brandy, orange liqueur and lemon, shaken with a quarter ounce of dill pickle brine and served in a sugar-rimmed coupe. Each sip goes sweet at the rim, then tart, warm and lightly salty. It is a grown-up after-dinner pickle drink.
21+Updated
Brine2/52 of 5
HeatNonenone
StrengthHigh
- Glass
- coupe
- Method
- Shaken
- Time
- 4 min
- Makes
- 1 drink
Ingredients
Make it for
Units
Amounts for 1, in ounces.
- 1½ oz cognac (or another good brandy)
- ¾ oz orange liqueur (Cointreau or triple sec)
- ½ oz fresh lemon juice
- ¼ oz dill pickle brine (strained, from the jar)
- sugar (for the rim)
- 1 lemon wedge (for wetting the rim)
- lemon peel (for the twist)
- 1 slice dill pickle (for garnish) optional
- Glass
- coupe
- Rim
- sugar
- Garnish
- lemon twist and pickle chip
How to make it
- Run the lemon wedge around the outside of a coupe rim and dip it in sugar.
- Chill the rimmed glass in the freezer for a few minutes.
- Add the cognac, orange liqueur, lemon juice and pickle brine to a shaker.
- Fill the shaker with ice and shake hard for about 10 seconds.
- Strain into the chilled coupe.
- Express the lemon peel over the top and garnish with the twist and a pickle chip.
Bar tips
- Sugar only the outside of the rim so it doesn’t fall into the drink and sweeten every sip.
- A VS or VSOP cognac is plenty. Save the old bottles for sipping neat.
Make it your own
- Skip the sugar rim and use a dill-salt rim for a fully savory sidecar.
- Use bourbon instead of cognac for a Pickle Whiskey Sidecar.
Drink responsibly. This one is for adults of legal drinking age. Want it without the booze? The zero-proof drinks are just as briny.
Full recipe: dillin.org/recipes/pickle-sidecar
