Whiskey Sour Cocktail Recipe

Spirit, citrus and sugar are the trinity that combine to form the classic sour, one of the oldest types of cocktails. One of the most popular members of this group, the Whiskey Sour, has sated thirsty drinkers for more than one and a half centuries. It’s unknown exactly when the cocktail was conceived (or who was the architect), but its history stretches back to at least the administration of Abraham Lincoln, and the first printed recipe appeared circa 1862 in Jerry Thomas’s famed book The Bar-Tenders Guide.

The Whiskey Sour was traditionally made with whiskey, lemon juice, sugar and egg white, an ingredient that tames the tart flavor and creates a richer, smoother texture. Today the egg is optional, and it’s often more common to find bars serving Whiskey Sours without egg white. But if you want to taste the original incarnation of the drink, and put a little protein in your system, give it a try.

When using egg white, you’ll want to perform a “dry shake,” meaning to shake all the ingredients without ice before shaking again with fresh ice. This incorporates the ingredients together while aerating the egg, akin to making a meringue. It creates a fuller-bodied drink with a more luxurious mouthfeel.

What’s a Sour Cocktail?

“Sours” are a broad category of cocktails that generally denote any drink comprised of a base spirit balanced with sugar (usually in the form of simple syrup, but also including liqueurs, honey, agave syrup, and others) and citric acid (most commonly lemon or lime juice). Despite their name, these drinks aren’t always actually sour in flavor, and ratios can change the drink to make sweeter or more spirit forward concoctions. Still, many of the world’s most popular drinks fall under this umbrella.

When used as a general modifier after the name of a spirit, such as Gin Sour, the default formulation has historically meant the inclusion of lemon juice and sugar, compacted by the creation of mass-produced “sour mix” in the 20th century—in effect an (often poor) attempt at making a shelf-stable approximation of fresh lemon juice and sugar. However, as many spirit categories have developed their own signature versions of the sour template (like the Pisco Sour, with its lime and bitters), the term now often denotes drinks with more specific specifications.

Variations on the Whiskey Sour

Few drinks in the cocktail canon are as quick to satisfy as a sour, and the basic template has created an entire category of cocktails that include everything from the Daiquiri to the Margarita, Mai Tai, Sidecar, and countless more. Even the humble lemonade employs the sour template of acid-plus-sugar, albeit generally sweetened more heavily. But the Whiskey Sour itself has spawned many more specific whiskey-based variations, like the red wine-topped New York Sour, or honey-forward Gold Rush. As long as you follow this three-part template, almost any similar component can be swapped in to create instant, well-balanced refreshment.

For a classic Whiskey Sour, bourbon is a fantastic option, thickened with egg white and topped with a few dashes of aromatic bitters for a complementary spice note. Follow that format, and you can’t go wrong. However, one of the best things about the sour is that it’s highly customizable. Translation: You do you.