The Triple Threat: White Lady, White Spider, and Chelsea Sidecar

It's all about the proportions and never more so than when making cocktails evidently. Perhaps as there are relatively few ingredients, one can taste the differences better.

You may recall that, making good use of our Mr. Boston Official Bartender's Guide, Tom and I were enjoying the difference that a cocktail can make on the weekends. One of our favorites is the Chelsea Sidecar, which recipe I will repeat below for the sake of simple comparison. It has also become our favorite way to tease test bartenders. We have not yet come across one who knew the recipe or, even more sadly, even had a Mr. Boston book to look it up in. I have written the proportions down on a card to carry in my purse as inevitably I must give the waiter the recipe. At which time, it becomes a test of the waiter's ability to convey the information.

Chelsea Sidecar
1/2 oz. lemon juice
3/4 oz. Triple Sec (we use Cointreau)
3/4 oz. gin

Shake with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

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Last Saturday, Tom came across the White Lady recipe and wondered if it wouldn't taste very similar as the ingredients are identical. Not so. It has much more of an "adult" flavor, if I might use that term. The gin is more prominent and it has a bit more bite. It was refreshing and very enjoyable. It might be my favorite of the three.

White Lady
2 oz. gin
1 oz. Triple Sec (we use Cointreau)
1/2 oz. lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

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With that successful experiment in mind, I made us a White Spider on Sunday. Notes showed we had made it before but neither of us could call it to mind. Again the same three ingredients, but with a bit of additional sugar to counter the large quantities of lemon juice. This was almost like a Gin Sour and Tom declared it to be the best of all.

White Spider
1 oz. gin
1 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. Triple Sec (we use Cointreau)
1 tsp. Superfine Sugar or Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

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There you have it. Three ingredients mixed three different ways for three completely different taste sensations. The triple threat.