Two things seem to be clear, even if the origins of this cocktail don’t appear to be: there is a very definite French version of the Sidecar – and an English version. What separates them is the ratio of the various components making up the cocktail.

Difford’s Guide refers to this anomaly in the proportions, stating that the French opt for a straight 1:1:1 ratio while the Savoy or English version (as detailed in Harry Craddock’s 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book) sees two parts brandy to one each of the Cointreau/triple sec and lemon for a 2:1:1.

One thing sources agree on is that the cocktail appears to have announced itself in the 1920s, a time known historically as the Roaring Twenties because of all the changes that were happening worldwide, artistically, culturally, economically and musically. Fashions changed dramatically with flappers flouting their legs while dancing energetically, it was the time immortalised by F Scott Fitzgerald, the economy was booming, aeroplanes took to the skies and cars took over the streets from horses and carriages in greater numbers.

So back to London or Paris … Wikipedia details the Ritz Hotel’s claim by stating that the first recipe for the Sidecar was printed in Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails by Harry MacElhone in 1922. But it also appeared in Robert Vermeire’s Cocktails and How to Mix Them the same year. The confusion arose because in early editions of the ABC, the creator of the drink is credited as Pat MacGarry, “the popular bartender at Buck’s Club, London", but in later editions MacElhone claims the credit! The original claim is backed up by Vermiere’s book which states the drink was “very popular in France. It was first introduced in London by MacGarry, the celebrated bartender of Buck's Club”.

And the name of the drink was credited to an American army captain in Paris during World War I and named after the motorcycle sidecar that the captain used.

As already mentioned, the Savoy’s 1930 book post dates these two and differs in its proportions. “Both MacElhone and Vermiere state the recipe as equal parts Cognac, Cointreau, and lemon juice, now known as “the French school”,” Wikipedia states. “Later, an “English school” of sidecars emerged, as found in The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), which call for two parts Cognac and one part each of Cointreau and lemon juice.”

An alternative theory put forward by Dale DeGroff, author of The Essential Cocktail, takes a bartender’s perspective. “The word sidecar means something totally different in the world of the cocktail: if the bartender misses his mark on ingredient quantities so when he strains the drink into the serving glass there’s a bit left over in the shaker, he pours out that little extra into a shot glass on the side – that little glass is called a sidecar.”

As is always the case, people have tinkered with the drink over the years and developed a host of spinoffs. Like the Side by Sidecar which adds pomegranate liqueur to the triumvirate of brandy, orange liqueur and lemon juice, Liquor.com reports. Not only is it an inviting shade of red, it adds typically tart berry fruit flavour to the drink.

Another innovation which didn’t form part of the original drink is the use of a sugared rim. That too, is a matter of either bartender or client preference. Some folks like a half rim of sugar in order to add a slight sweetness to the tangy drink.

Then there’s the Apple Strudel sidecar detailed by BBC Good Food website.