Whiskey Sour
A generational favourite
- Method
- Shaken
- Style
- Classic
- Glass
- Nick and Nora
- Time
- 5 min
Ingredients
- 45mlBourbon
No Bourbon? Rye Whiskey — drier and spicier — more bite, less of the vanilla sweetness
- 22.5mlLemon Juicefreshly squeezed
- 15mlDemerara Syruprich, 2:1
No Demerara Syrup? Simple Syrup — clean sweetness with none of the molasses depth — fine in a sour, a real loss in a tiki drink
- 15mlEgg Whiteor if you're dairy-free
No Egg White? Aquafaba — the vegan alternative — one egg white is about 0.25 oz of aquafaba
- 3 dropsAngostura
No Angostura? Old Fashioned Bitters — close to Ango, with the same spicy notes — just not the standard bottle
- Garnish
- Lemon twist and three drops of bitters
Make it well
Shaken, properly.
Add all your ingredients into your
If your using egg white or aquafaba close your shaking tin (before adding ice) and for 10-12 seconds
Add ice to your shaking tin and shake for another 10-12 seconds - be careful, it will want to expand! Hold tight!
into the glass. You should have a nice foamy layer on top
a lemon over the top and add 3 drops of into the foam. If you're being fancy take a cocktail skewer and drag it through the bitters and you'll make these lovely hearts.
On the palate
On the nose it's spicy and fresh, really bright and citrusy. On tasting you get lemon up front followed by the barrel notes and spice from the bourbon - get a quality bourbon for this one. A timeless classic here. Just lovely and one of our favourites.
Where it came from
First print of this classic cocktail is found in Jerry Thomas' book: The Bartenders Guide, printed in 1862. The story usually told is that sailors got there long before Thomas wrote it down. Throughout the 1800s scurvy was a killer to sailors lacking Vitamin C and surviving on poor quality drinking water, so they began taking lemons and limes aboard. Disliking the raw taste of the juice, the inventive sailors mixed it with spirit and sugar, and the sour was born. It's a good story, and it's honestly truer of punch and grog than of this drink in particular, but the family resemblance is close enough that you can see how the one led to the other.
Keep pouring
If you like the Whiskey Sour, try these
The bartender’s note
One drink, one story, one bottle worth buying.
Thursday evening, so you have time to shop. No more than that.