Whiskey Sour
ClassicIBA OfficialBourbon, lemon, and a silk-soft foam.
Bright, tart, and silky, with bourbon's vanilla-and-oak warmth at the core. Fresh lemon cuts sharp and clean; a measure of sugar rounds it; and the egg white lends a plush, meringue-soft foam that carries a whisper of Angostura spice on top. Sweet-sour balance, made luxurious.
Ingredients
- 2 oz Bourbon
- 0.75 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
- 0.75 oz Simple Syrup
- 1 Egg White
- Angostura bitters · optional garnish
- Brandied cherry · optional garnish
Method
- 1
Add the bourbon, lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg white to a shaker without ice.
- 2
Dry-shake hard for 10-15 seconds to whip the egg white into a foam.
- 3
Add ice and shake again until well-chilled.
- 4
Double-strain into a chilled coupe.
- 5
Dot the foam with a few drops of Angostura bitters and add a brandied cherry.
The Story
The sour is one of the oldest ideas in the drinks canon — spirit, citrus, sugar, a formula sailors leaned on against scurvy — and by the time Jerry Thomas set it in print in his 1862 bartender's guide, the whiskey version was already a fixture of American bars. The silky egg-white foam came later, softening the tartness and giving the drink its signature cloud. Simple, bright, and beautifully balanced, it's the template every other sour still answers to.