Whiskey Sour Classic Cocktail
The Whiskey Sour is an enduring cocktail recipe because its just so reliably delicious. It blends bourbon whiskey with lemon juice, sugar and optional egg white.
The recipe for the this cocktail has evolved a little over the years. For a long time, bartenders made it with bottled sour mix instead of fresh-squeezed lemon juice.
Bottled sour mix gave it a taste more like candy than a refreshing beverage. Now were returning to the old-fashioned way of making this drink, with real lemon juice. The only change I make is to use simple syrup instead of sugar because it mixes so much more easily.
This version also calls for just enough egg white to thicken the drink a little so you can savor it. Egg whites can also minutely improve the flavor of the really cheap whiskey, but theyre mainly there to mellow all the flavors and meld them into one.
Thats the best version of this drink, in my humble opinion. But dont worry, I included a no egg white version, too. Youll notice that it calls for sugar instead of simple syrup. Thats a way to get back some of the texture lost with the egg whites.
However you make your Whiskey Sour, its flavors are tart citrus with just a touch of sweetness to take the edge off. Better quality whiskeys will reward you with a smoother, deeper flavor .
There are so many variations on this recipe, and you should feel free to play with it. You may want to add just a touch of orange juice to the mix that rounds out the flavor considerably.
How To Make A Whiskey Sour
How to Make a Simple Syrup
- To make simple syrup it is a 1:1 ratio of water and sugar heated over medium-low until sugar melts. I typically will do 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar.
First, gather and prep your ingredients. Crack your egg and separate the egg white from the yolk. Next, squeeze your lemons for fresh juice.
Add ice and all the ingredients to your cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously. This is going to create that silky foam top. Strain into an Old Fashioned glassand garnish with a lemon twist.
The egg white gives this cocktail that silky foam top. Since we use egg white in our whiskey sours they are often also referred to as a Boston Sour.
Why Make This Whiskey Sour Recipe
Im pleasantly surprised by how much I love a whiskey sour as whiskey is not my favorite spirit. But this cocktail is more of a sunny, refreshing sipping drink where only the best flavors of whiskey come out.
Its absolutely refreshing and perfect for all seasons. Try this recipe, as the proportions are perfect for a well-balanced drink.
We also love that its a shaken drink that is served over ice and garnished with an orange wheel and a cherry. We prefer to serve it over a large ice cube that melts slowly. Perfect for sipping!
If you like this cocktail youll also love our Whiskey Lemonade!
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Are Raw Egg Whites In Cocktails Safe
Not sure about using raw egg whites? I cant make this call for you but Ill tell you I do it all the time. Use fresh eggs at the very least. If youre still weirded out by it, you can use pasteurized liquid egg whites sold in a carton. This will reduce the risk of food-borne illness from consuming raw egg. As always, consume at your own risk.
What You Need To Make This Recipe
Whisky I use bourbon whisky to make this Whiskey Sour cocktail. My go-to is this Makers Mark 46, as it has a smooth and subtle finish.
Lemon youll need the lemon for garnish and the juice for the cocktail. Avoid using bottled lemon juice for the freshest tasting cocktail.
Egg this cocktail uses raw egg whites, so I recommend using an organic egg or pasteurized egg. The egg white is flavorless and will not make your cocktail taste like egg but instead give your drink a creamy texture.
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You Can Even Add An Egg White For That Little Extra Texture
Classic whiskey sour recipe with egg white. ¾ ounce fresh lemon juice Fill a shaker with ice. The process is simple, whiskey or bourbon is shaken dry with lemon juice, sugar syrup, a dash of bitters and an optional egg white .
Its one of my favorite drinks because of the sweet and sour combination. Strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice. This recipe simply increases the quantity of bourbon from our amaretto sour to make an entirely new.
Fresh lemon juice ¾ oz. 3/4 oz simple syrup 1 or 2 teaspoons of egg white. Pour ice into an old fashioned glass to chill
Shake well for 30 seconds. . Tips for a successful whiskey sour
1 egg white lemon twist, thick cut, for garnish A classic whiskey sour recipe made with good whiskey, fresh lemon juice and simple syrup can be a drink to behold. How to make a whiskey sour.
Add 3 dashes of sloe berry bitters. Start the weekend by making your very own classic whiskey sour, or mocktail if you dont drink alcohol. Add 50ml of jameson select reserve.
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add in the whiskey, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup and egg white. The amaretto sour is a very popular spin on the whiskey sour using italian amaretto liqueur. A classic whiskey sour is made with whiskey, lemon juice, simple syrup and egg whites.
Garnish with the orange slice and maraschino cherry. This is a classic recipe that consists of that bartending holy trinity: The egg white makes the shake in the whiskey sour extremely important.
How To Prepare Yummy Ryans Whiskey Sour
Ryans Whiskey Sour.
Ryans Whiskey Sour very diverse and have ideal sense that unique. Several kinds of Ryans Whiskey Sour recipes are also enough simple to process and do not take long. Although not everybody likes Ryans Whiskey Sour food, now several people are getting attached and like the sundry Ryans Whiskey Sour foods on hand. This could be visible than the number of restaurants that supply Ryans Whiskey Sour as one of the dish. You can have Ryans Whiskey Sour using 8 ingredients and 3 steps. Here is how you cook it.
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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!
Put An Egg On It: Old School Whiskey Sour With Egg White
The classic whiskey sour cocktail has many variations. This one includes an egg white for a frothy head and a velvety mouthfeel. Recipe below.
For a couple of wine lovers, Marion and I have been totally smitten by the craft cocktail scene that, happily, just doesnt seem to quit. In countless bars and restaurants, weve puzzled over cryptic descriptions of inventively named drinks with housemade bitters, small batch spirits and surprising botanicals challenged willing bartenders to create something using a particular liquor and hitting vaguely described flavor notes and enjoyed the theatrics of the processat Curio in Columbus, Ohio, a bartender flexed an orange peel and ignited the oil spraying from the skin. But old school drinks persist for a reason: sometimes you just want a drink. Not a shot and a beer, but something classic without being overthoughtsomething a good bartender makes from muscle memory.
What got me thinking about this was a recent article on VinePair, a website that believes in covering drinking in a thought provoking way. They asked seven bartenders to name the most underrated cocktail. A lot of the usual suspects were thereDaiquiris, Negronis, Margaritas But what caught my eye was a Whiskey Sour made with an egg white.
For this version, I went with a rocks glass and ice. I also went with the egg white. And the only reason Ill say its optional is I dont want to hear anyones stories about salmonella.
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The Cocktail Bar Standard Aka Using An Egg White
Elijah Craig
- 0.75 oz. fresh lemon juice
- 0.75 oz. simple syrup
- 1 egg white
Add all ingredients to a shaker tin. Dry shake ingredients without ice for five seconds to whip the egg. Add ice, seal tins and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds. Strain into coupe or martini glassitll come out white at first, and the color will emerge over the course of a minute under a paper-smooth head of foam. Express a lemon peel over the top of the foam for aroma and discard and decorate the foam with a few drops or dashes of Angostura Bitters.
The smoothest and most elegant way to make a Whiskey Sour is to make it with egg white. Now, if you were disinclined to try it before, I doubt I just sweetened the pot with the promise of a raw egg, but hear me out: Just like when you eat them, egg whites dont taste like anything really, but serve here to give the whole cocktail a velvety texture, a pretty white head, and most importantly, to bind to the tannins in the spirit, smoothing out the rougher edges of the whiskey.
A necessary note: egg whites are largely safe, but if youre nervous or immunocompromised, feel free to use in-shell pasteurized eggs. If youre vegan, you can use aquafaba, which functions more or less identically. If all you have is a carton of pre-cracked, pre-separated egg whites, perhaps consider making it as below.
To Egg White Or Not To Egg White
Have you ever seen that amazing layer of foam resting gently at the top of a cocktail? Yeah, you can thank egg white for that. To some, using raw egg whites in a cocktail is a novel concept .
Bartenders use egg whites in cocktails, like the whiskey sour, to give it a rich, creamy texture along with a smooth head of foam. To stay on the idea of fresh ingredients, use organic eggs . If youre curious about it altering the flavor, just know that egg white is flavorless. It also helps to reduce the acidity from the citrus and bind the flavors together. It enhances the presentation of your whiskey sour, too. Remember, were not settling for anything less than an ooh! from you and from your guest.
If you still feel like shaking up your cocktail with raw egg white is just too much to stomach, then feel free to leave it out!
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Why Do We Have Egg Whites In Cocktails
The egg white helps to reduce the acidity from the lemon, and it also binds the flavors together. The cocktail will get a little cloudy and get a lovely foam on top.
I know a lot of people freak out when they see the recipe and it calls for raw egg whites – let me tell you, you cannot taste it! It’s completely flavorless. The egg white gives a pretty white foam and it can be omitted if you really want to. But if it is solely for the “Oh but I don’t like eggs” – then that excuse won’t work.
However, it may taste a little off if the drink sits for too long. So if you’re not planning on drinking it right away, I would also omit it. And 1 egg white will be enough for two drinks, so you don’t have to multiply that when making several drinks at once. But you can, of course!
Ingredients 2 Ounces Good Quality Bourbon Whiskey 2 Ounces Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice 1 Ounce Simple Syrup Ice Cherry And An Orange Slice
Whiskey Sour Recipe No Egg. Instructions for whiskey sour · shake aquafaba in a cocktail shaker for 30 seconds until frothy. Get the recipe on hgtv.com. Whiskey sour is a simple and sophisticated cocktail made with bourbon, lemon juice, and simple syrup.
· add whiskey, lemon juice, simple syrup whiskey sour recipe. First give the ingredients a dry shake to .
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A Most Iconic Sour Of The Whiskey Variety
This iconic sourwhiskey, lemon juice and sugar, shaken over iceforms the building block for many cocktails due to its structural simplicity prime for riffing. Add an egg white and it becomes the Boston Sour . Add a red wine float and it becomes the New York Sour or Continental Sour, a variation that popped up in the late 1800s.
- 3/4 ounce simple syrup
- 1/2 ounce or 1 small egg white
Directions
Editor’s Note
Do You Have To Add An Egg White
You definitely dont have to add an egg white to this cocktail. Although some whiskey sour recipes do not have egg white, a traditional whiskey sour does. I personally like the foam it creates and it makes this cocktail so pretty. Not everyone is comfortable adding egg white to their drink, and thats ok! See my notes in the recipe card on the USDA comments on egg whites in the recipe.
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A Classic Whiskey Sour Recipe
Published on January 22, 2021Updated on February 14, 2022 by Eden
Our favorite, classic whiskey sour recipe is easy to make, perfectly balanced, and contains only 4 simple ingredients.
This classic cocktail dates back to 1870! It has a sweet and sour flavor from the whiskey and lemon juice. It also has a small amount of simple syrup to balance the flavors. Also, try our whiskey highball cocktail too!
Is It Safe To Drink Whisky Sour
Traditionally a whisky sour will have a raw egg white mixed in to give the drink a silkier texture and frothy top. My whiskey sour recipe does not include an egg, which is why it doesnt look as creamy as a traditional whiskey sour. But it is every bit as delicious and I highly recommend giving it a try! One can never have too many easy cocktail recipes to make at home. Options people, its all about options.
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An Easy Whiskey Cocktail
As we steer away from the warm summer months to the cooler fall weather, I find myself reaching less for the refreshing fruity cocktails and and more for the drinks that warm you from the inside out. And one of my go-to drinks is a Whiskey Sour.
Sure, you can enjoy this simple whiskey cocktail anytime but to me, the slow sips of that sweet tart taste with the warmth of whiskey are just perfect for fall. Though super simple to make , a whiskey sour always feels like a special cocktail.
Its a great drink to serve guests as well. Friends served us this cocktail last fall, before treating us to some awesome pizzas from their new outdoor pizza oven. And since we recently flipped the calendar to September, I cant get this beautiful cocktail off my mind!
Some whiskey sours include egg whites but I skipped that and stuck with the traditional bourbon sour bourbon whiskey, lemon juice, and simple syrup, shaken and served over ice. No unique twists here, just a simple, timeless classic!
Here are a couple more cocktails that are perfect for fall: This Apple Sangria with Bourbon and Thyme is wonderful for an evening around the bonfire. And friends always love this Cranberry Gin and Tonic!
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.
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