Beware the Between the Sheets

If you’re thinking of making a Between the Sheets, you might want to proceed with caution. That is, at least according to Patrick Gavin Duffy, who, in his 1934 book The Official Mixer’s Manual, cautions drinkers that the mix of spirits in the cocktail can bring on “sudden intoxication” and “sick headaches.” Bearing that warning in mind, you, like Ryan Gannon, bar director for Ingas Bar and the new restaurant Lonnie’s, might want to revisit this forgotten Cognac classic.

This cocktail first appeared in print in 1929 in Frank Shay’s Drawn from the Wood. It featured gin, Bacardi rum and Cointreau. By the next year, it had traveled across the Atlantic with two crucial changes—swapping out gin in favor of Cognac and the addition of lemon juice—that pushed it into Sidecar territory. The Savoy Cocktail Book inclusion ensured the Between the Sheets’ legacy, and it’s the source from which Gannon first came across the drink 20 years ago. 

Gannon has been tweaking his recipe for the Between the Sheets for the past two decades. He recalls adding a significant measure of lemon and introducing simple syrup (a common practice at the time), approaching it almost like an equal-parts drink. He continued to work on it when he spent eight years working at Cure in New Orleans, where it appeared on the “Cocktails We Love” section of the menu. There, he used El Dorado 3 for the rum and Pierre Ferrand for the Cognac.

Over the years, his tastes have shifted, and so has the nature of bar programs. At Lonnie’s, Gannon relies on a much smaller backbar, so he prioritizes versatile ingredients that can work across the classics and original drinks.