Call me a convert and buy me a bottle of bourbon.

Some of you may remember Nick's excellent cocktailing skills from last summer's posts. Well, let me tell you - he outdid himself this time.

On the night I arrived, Nick made us each a bourbon sidecar. Now, you all know what a traditionalist I am when it comes to cocktails - I like gin in my martinis, and a martini without vermouth is just a shot of cold gin. That said, I have been converted completely when it comes to the swap of bourbon for the original cognac in a sidecar.

I like brandy as much as the next girl, but I vastly prefer bourbon's complex smokiness to cognac's smoother flavor. Combined with the sidecar's traditional lemon juice and triple sec (Nick used Cointreau), bourbon becomes the perfect folly for the acid and the sweetness.

And, of course, you can't have a sidecar without a lemon juice and sugarcoated rim. Yum.