Hello and welcome back fellow drinkers. Fall is upon us and the weather (at least in the Northeast) is finally cooling down and temperatures are becoming more seasonal. I figured I’d go with a nice whiskey based drink this week, since that would provide a nice warm up. After consulting my library of cocktail books, I decided to make a nice whiskey sour from the New York Cocktails book by Amanda Schuster. I haven’t consulted this book in a while, and I wanted to bring it back into the rotation. Plus, the recipe couldn’t be simpler. Plus, I’m finally out of the sling so shaking cocktails are back on the table!

Whiskey Sour:

2 oz. Rye or bourbon

1 oz. Fresh lemon juice

1/2 oz. Simple syrup

1 Egg white

Add all ingredients to mixing tin. Dry shake for 15 to 20 seconds. Open tin and add ice to mixture. Shake hard for 10 seconds. Double strain into a large coupe or rocks glass. Add a dash of bitters on top of the cocktail and swirl into the froth. Garnish with a cherry or orange slice, or combine the two on a toothpick placed over the drink

A whiskey sour is a classic cocktail that I almost never think of making. Mainly because I always assumed that you need sour mix for the prep. After making this however, I have to wonder why you would use fake sour mix for this? The fresh lemon juice and the simple syrup provide enough of a sour hit that I’ll never get pre made sour mix again. The fresh lemon juice makes its presence know almost immediately on each sip, as the bitters swirl in the froth delays the flavor for about a second. The lemon fights through and lasts all the way through the sip. Of which, this drink is most definitely a sipper, unless you like intense sour flavors. In that case, go to town.

The egg white gives it a nice froth on top, but it doesn’t thicken the rest of the drink like I somewhat expected. Most flips I’ve had or made are a lot thicker due to the presence of eggs, but I suppose the omission of the yolk reduces the resulting thickness. The bourbon finally comes in at the end. It plays nicely with the lemon sour base flavor. I made mine with bourbon, but as the recipe suggests, rye would work out as well. Next time, I would make it with try rye. The spicier notes inherent to rye would play nicely with this flavor profile. The orange garnish adds a nice touch, adding a bit of citrus tang to the overall flavor palate. No cherries this time, but a good Luxardo cherry would be good as well.

Overall, this is very easy, delicious and low fuss drink to make. The “hard” part is the egg separation, but use your hands people. That’s why they are there.

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