Sidecar for One

I don't like beer. I just don't. I realise that many people view this as a deep personality flaw, but there it is. I can drink vodka like it's water, but beer is just something that's never appealed. I try it again every few months, usually when someone plaintively wheedles "try this one, you'll like it, it doesn't taste beery at all!" They are wrong. It continues to taste like beer, and I continue to dislike it.

Unfortunately, I didn't take the time to find appropriate drink substitutes. I'll happily drink any sort of wine, but don't have any real knack for finding "good" wine or remembering labels or years or whatever. But what really ticks my brother-in-law off most is that when we go to bars and he offers to get me a drink, I usually tell him one of two things: get me a cranberry vodka, or a Malibu and coke.

"You drink like a freshman chick at a frat party" -- the brother-in-law

He's so insistent about this, he even lectured me out of this absurd bar book his aunt gave him. Drinks to suit each mood, or something (we eventually settled that my "standard" should be something along the lines of a vanilla and ginger). But tonight's the first time we've been to the bar since the book night, and so I got him back. I had him order me a Sidecar.

There's something immensely satisfying in watching your brother-in-law squirm as the bartender rolls his eyes, then unearths the Book of Drinks that is apparently stored under the bar, and then painstakingly makes said drink (last popular in the 1930s, from what I gather). On top of that, the finished product is delicious:

1 1/2 oz. Brandy
1/2 oz. Triple Sec
1/2 oz. Lemon or Lime Juice

Combine all the ingredients in a shaker filled with ice, shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.

It not only is enough alcohol for a good hour, but it has the added benefit of getting everyone within 5 feet of you drunk off of the fumes. Good time had by all.