Ward Eight
ClassicRye, lemon, orange, and grenadine, shaken bright. Boston's 1898 answer to the Whiskey Sour.
Bright and tart, rye's spice cut by lemon's sharpness and rounded out by orange juice and grenadine into something sweeter and fruitier than a plain Whiskey Sour.
Ingredients
- 2 oz Rye Whiskey
- 0.75 oz Grenadine
- 0.5 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
- 0.5 oz Orange Juice
- Maraschino cherry · optional garnish
Method
- 1
Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice.
- 2
Shake hard until well chilled.
- 3
Strain into a chilled coupe.
- 4
Garnish with a maraschino cherry.
The Story
The Ward Eight was invented in 1898 at Locke-Ober, a Boston restaurant, reportedly to celebrate a local political boss's election-night win in the city's eighth voting ward — the kind of origin story that ties a drink to a real place and a real night rather than a vague legend. It predates Prohibition by two decades, making it one of the older American whiskey sours still poured under its original name, and the Locke-Ober recipe has shaped nearly every version served since.
Recipe card
The whole recipe in one shareable image.
