Top Whiskey Sour Recipes
Below are some additional whiskey sour recipes for those who want to try something a little different than the standard recipe above.
- Classic with egg white
One of the oldest bourbons in America, Basil Haydens is the classic way to go. If you want to taste what some of the original whiskey sours were probably like, you cant go wrong here!
While most corn mash, there is some rye added which makes for a nice rush of spice and helps keep the bourbon base strong. Peppermint, honey, pepper, and even a bit of citrus make for a smooth blend with lemon and sugar.
Federal Buffalo Stamp Aka Mixing Up The Sweetness
- 0.75 oz. fresh lemon juice
- 0.75 oz. maple syrup
- 1 thin slice of ginger
Muddle ginger in the bottom of a shaker tin. Add liquid ingredients, add ice, seal tins and shake hard for 6 to 10 seconds. Strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass, and garnish with a lemon wheel.
Using a different kind of sweetness is a fun and interesting way to mix it up a little and circumvent the need for an egg white. If you used honey syrup instead of simple syrup, it would be called a Gold Rush and has a story all its own, but one of my favorite things to do is to recruit the depth of fresh maple syrup and the spice of ginger, which are a wonderful foil to the bourbon and dont bind to the tannins so much as provide such an interesting side show that your palate doesnt really mind.
For bourbon here, Id say 45 percent ABV is a maximum. Buffalo Trace, as always, is a wonderful choice, but this is great with the less expensive end as well, like Evan Williams Black Label or Jim Beam or even a Tennessee whiskey like Jack Daniels.
Every week bartender Jason OBryan mixes his up his favorite drinks for you. Check out his past cocktail recipes.
How To Make The Perfect Whiskey Sour
A recipe from Joaquín Simó, the 2012 Tales of the Cocktail American Bartender of the Year.
If youve mastered the Old Fashioned and the Manhattan, your next challenge is a Whiskey Sour. Its a step above a three-ingredient cocktail, but adds ingredients most people have lying around the house: an egg and a lemon.
The Sours Troubled Past
The whiskey sour hit its nadir when citrus juice and sugar were preassembled for convenience, said Christian Hetter, bar manager at The Berkshire Room, a Chicago craft cocktail lounge. The world got used to ready-to-use sour mix. What was once a classic cocktail lost its nobility. The whiskey sour became a sickly lime-green concoction, served alongside margaritas from lever-operated machines. But fortunately, the recent surge of craft cocktail culture has brought the sweet and tart drink back into the mainstream.
In contrast to the sour-mix concoctions of yesteryear, a worthwhile Whiskey Sour draws on the egg white for a rich texture and bitters which arent necessarily traditional that echo and complement the notes of the whiskey. We spoke with Joaquín Simó the 2012 Tales of the Cocktail American Bartender of the Year who left the renowned Death & Co. to open Pouring Ribbons, which has quickly become a NYC whiskey bar staple about how to make the Whiskey Sour. Its a thick, zippy drink that forces you to slow down and enjoy its many nuances. Find the recipe below.
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Rittenhouse Rye Bottled In Bond
A Bottled in Bond whiskey must adhere to very specific rules for instance, the whiskey must be distilled in a single location for one distilling season. These regulations result in a spirit with both complexity and consistency, and thats why head bartender Sarah Rosner of Bourbon Steak in Washington, D.C., likes to use Rittenhouse Ryes Bottled In Bond version for whiskey sours. This spirit is bold and spicy in flavor. But it is also big enough at 100 proof to shine through the raw egg white, says Rosner of this particular bottle.
Should I Add A Raw Egg White
You can make a perfectly lovely Whiskey Sour by sticking to the original recipe of just whiskey, lemon juice, and sugar. These three ingredients balance each other beautifully.
But if you want to take your Whiskey Sour to the next level, add an egg white. This will not, in fact, make your cocktail taste like egg. Instead, the egg white will add texture, richness, and a particular creaminess that will make it seem almost like a whiskey milkshake.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: What about salmonella?
Your chances of getting salmonella from raw eggs are pretty low. The CDC estimates that only around 1 in 20,000 eggs are contaminated with the bacteria, and even if you do get a contaminated egg, as long as the egg is kept refrigerated below 45 F, the bacteria will have no chance to grow.
If you’re still worried, you can purchase pasteurized eggs, which are heated for a period of time to eliminate bacteria. You can also use pre-packaged, pasteurized egg whites like Egg Beaters, which will also save you the trouble of extracting the egg white from the yolk.
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The 8 Best Bourbons For A Whiskey Sour
Tart and toothsome with an acerbic kick, the Whiskey Sour was the poet Dorothy Parkers favorite Whiskey cocktail for a good reason.1 After all, like the searing quips and snappy rhyming couplets that made Parker famous, this cocktail is timelessa plucky study of balance and bite.
If, like Parker, youre one of the many bon vivants who has become enamored with the bracing, sweet libation since it was first mixed up over 250 years ago2 and youve also fallen in love with our freshly made bourbon sour cocktail, its time to dust off your cocktail shaker and try your hand at mixing up the iconic Whiskey cocktail.
Before you research what to mix with bourbon, to get you on your way to at-home Happy Hour success, well take a deep dive into the history of the beloved drink and determine whats the best bourbon for Whiskey Sour.
Best Whiskey For A Whiskey Sour
What type of whiskey to use for a whiskey sour? You can use any type. Heres a little breakdown on what we like best:
- Bourbon: Our top pick! The sweet flavor of bourbon whiskey is ideal
- Jameson Irish whiskey:Jameson is very mild and makes for an even more balanced drink
- Rye whiskey: Rye whiskey has a spicy burn on the finish
Ready to make it? Scroll down to the recipe below, and let us know how it goes in the comments!
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Egg Whites In Your Whiskey Sour
Yes, you read that correctly. If you want to elevate your whiskey sour, an egg white is a way to do it! Oh no, you say, is this a repeat of eggnog?!
No, I promise its not. First of all, the egg isnt one of the main ingredients. There is usually less egg white included than anything else. Really all it does is add a touch of binding and frothing power to the drink.
Origin Of The Whiskey Sour
According to cocktail maestro Hayley Dixon of Proximo, the Sour cocktail is said to have been born out of the original way of making a punch.
Punches are the earliest form of cocktail we know, and due to the similarity in ingredients, many think of the punch leading the way to the Sour. Whiskey was not, however, the first sour.
In 1856 the first mention of a sour appeared on Mart Ackermanns Saloon cocktail list in Toronto, made with Gin or Brandy and then the first recipe didnt appear until 6 years later in Jerry Thomas very famous The Bartenders Guide, which contained a Brandy, Gin and Rum sour.
Interestingly the Whiskey Sour also never contained any egg white, instead, being made more in line with a Daiquiri or . Technically it was the Boston Sour that contained egg white, but thats an argument for another day.
History also suggests sours as an overruling cocktail family existed for several years prior to the publishing of that book, as they were said to be popular with naval sailors.
Why? Because it was found that eating or consuming citrus fruits provided vitamin C, vital in preventing sailors from contracting scurvy. It wasnt uncommon to find naval ships stocked with lemons, lime and oranges and because the sailors enjoyed a drink plenty of alcohol could be found on board too. In their downtime, its said the sailors experimented with mixing their various liquors with citrus juice to create a scurvy-busting and delicious beverage.
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Whiskey Sour Recipe Ingredients
- ¾ ounces of freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ ounces of simple syrup or maple syrup
- ½ ounces of egg white
- Angostura bitters for garnish
Note: To make simple syrup, add ½ cup of granulated sugar and ½ cup of water to a saucepan over medium heat. Stir the sugar until dissolved, let it cool, and pour into a glass jar. Alternately, add maple syrup.
The key to the perfect whiskey sour cocktail is in the ingredient balance. Even though the cocktail is customizable, you want to stick to the quantities provided above if youre making it for the first time. Once you master the recipe, you can start to experiment more.
Now lets jump into the instructions.
The History Of The Whiskey Sour
The recipe for a Whiskey Sour first appeared in print in 1862, in a book called The Bartender’s Guide by Jerry Thomas. But according to some cocktail historians, sailors invented the Whiskey Sour!
In the past, sailors were given an allowance for spirits and citrus . Put them together add a little sugar, and you have a Whiskey Sour!
It’s also possible that the Whiskey Sour is just a scaled-down version of a punch, designed to serve just one. Punches predate cocktails by quite a while, but if you look at old punch recipes, you’ll notice the basic structure of a Whiskey Sour: base spirit, citrus, and sweetener.
However the Whiskey Sour came to be, when you drink one, you can be sure you’re part of a long and proud tradition!
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Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon
While high-proof bourbons can prove challenging to integrate into a cocktail like a whiskey sour, certain distilleries produce renditions with both an adaptable flavor profile and plenty of potency. Case in point: Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon, a 94-proof whiskey favored by managing partner Lucinda Sterling of Middle Branch in New York City, who insists that when making whiskey sours, I always prefer using Elijah Craig. It has a high proof, but also a particularly sweet finish that helps the cocktail move away from the drier mouthfeel of the egg white.
The Best Whiskey For Whiskey Sours
- Pin
The whiskey sour is part of a family of drinks simply called sours. This category appears in the 1862 How to Drink Mix Drinks by Jerry Thomas. They are one of the oldest types of cocktails and they include three elements: a base spirit, lemon or lime juice, and a sweetener. The basic recipe has been toyed with endlessly to create many great drinks we know and love today: margaritas, Tom Collins, cosmos, and daiquiris are all part of the sour family.
The whiskey sour probably began in the 1700s when boats carried copious amounts of lemons and limes so sailors could avoid scurvy. They also carried plenty of rum. Mixing the citrus with rum and water killed a few birds with one stone it kept them hydrated, scurvy-free and came with the benefits of alcohol.
Sailors found this recipe to be quite pleasing so they kept it in mind and opened it up to more readily available spirits once the ships docked, such as whiskey and brandy. It just so happened that railroads came into play around the same time as bourbon hit its peak. This meant everyone was drinking bourbon and citrus products could be transported easily. Hence the realization that the best whiskey for whiskey sours is usually bourbon.
Prohibition was a sad time for the whiskey sour because quality alcohol was so hard to come by. This meant that the more subtle cocktails became desolate as it was hard to mask the flavor of cheap alcohol with just sugar and citrus.
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How To Shake A Whiskey Sour
One of the beautiful things about adding an egg white to your cocktail is the rich, creamy texture it imparts. To get a nice, foamy drink, try one of these shaking styles:
I prefer the texture imparted by the traditional dry shake, but if you want to get a truly ridiculous amount of foam, the reverse dry shake is the way to go.
Best Tennessee: Jack Daniels Gentleman Jack
Courtesy of ReserveBar
Region: Tennessee | ABV: 47% | Tasting Notes: Vanilla, Lemon Zest, Rock Candy
Unsure of what kind of Whiskey Sour you really want? Start here. Upon sipping a Whiskey Sour made with Gentleman Jack youll say, Yes, thats that Whiskey Sour flavor I have been craving. Its a relaxed Whiskey Sour with no pretenses.
The whiskey itself is soft and velvety, thanks to two rounds of charcoal filtering, so it makes for an extra-easy-drinking cocktail. Its flavors of lemon and crystalline sugar play beautifully with the actual lemon and sugar in the cocktail, while a touch of smoke shows through just underneath. This is the Whiskey Sour youll get out at your neighborhood bar.
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The Best Whiskey Sour Ingredients
Bourbon: Choosing a bourbon for this cocktail shouldnt be difficult. I recommend a good value bottle, something in the price range of $15 to $25. Next time youre at a cocktail bar you like, ask the bartender which specific bottles of any given spirit they have in their well bar. This is a great way to find out whats good, both for your home bar and your budget.
Lemon juice: Next up, fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Ill say it again because this is so important: fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Gone are the days of using cheap mixes. If you want the absolute best whiskey sour you ever did taste in your life, then you need the real-deal fresh juice. Simple as that!
Simple syrup: For the sweetener, use a simple syrup . There are several whiskey sour recipes out there that call for a heaping bar spoon of sugar. Youre free to go this route, but simple syrup combines so much better, so I prefer and recommend this.
Uncle Nearest 1856 Premium Aged Whiskey
The richness of an aged whiskey provides a valuable counterpoint to the brightness of citrus juice, and bar manager Cody Brown of Industry Tavern in Atlanta especially enjoys the flavor of Uncle Nearest 1856 Premium Aged Whiskey in the context of a sour: Uncle Nearest 1856 is a blend of aged whiskeys clocking in at 100 proof that melds perfectly with the lemon and sugar in a whiskey sour. The residual sweetness allows me to use a bit less sugar than I normally would, while the proof of the spirit adds backbone and authority rather than getting lost amongst the ingredients.
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If You Like This Try These
Up the ante on the Whiskey Sour by floating a spoonful of dry red wine across the topthat’s called a New York Sour. Other sour drinks include the Amaretto Sour and the Brandy Sour. Really, any cocktail that uses the liquor-plus-citrus-plus-sweetener build is a close cousin to the Whiskey Sour, like the Gin Sour and the Pisco Sour. Then there are the sour heavyweights: the and the Daiquiri.
Variations Of The Whiskey Sour
Despite bartenders introducing their own variations of the classic whiskey sour, whether it be changing the garnish or the whiskey used, there are some official variations you may wish to try. If you make what is known as the Boston Sour you can float a few bar spoons of full-bodied red wine on top, turning it into a New York Sour.
Alternatively, you can make what is called a Ward 8. This cocktail is based on either bourbon or rye whiskey, uses grenadine syrup as the sweetener instead of simple syrup and will be garnished with both lemon and orange slices. A Ward 8 doesnt use egg white.
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Cinnamon Maple Whiskey Sour
When presented with a cocktail menu, I just cant help but order a whiskey drink. An Old Fashioned, Manhattan, a well-made whiskey sour or any spin on the above. Im a whiskey girl. Always have been, always will be.
Naturally, when I spied the cinnamon maple sour on the menu at a local bar the other day, I had to order it. I liked it so much that I had to recreate it at home.
This whiskey sour recipe is sweetened with maple syrup, which tastes so much more interesting than basic simple syrup. The recipe includes plenty of fresh lemon juice and a hefty pinch of ground cinnamon, which offers some warming flavor for cold winter days. You can skip the cinnamon, though, if you would like a classic whiskey sour.
This is my last post before I take off for the holidays. Be merry and be safe! I appreciate you all so much for hanging out with me here and cooking my recipes in your kitchens.