Sour

What is a sour?

The sour is the mother of many modern cocktails: a basic formula that countless classics are built on. It goes two parts spirit, one part citrus, one part sweet, and with it the whiskey sour, the daiquiri, the margarita and the sidecar stand and fall. The name is the program: a sour is deliberately tart, but never only tart, the sweetness and the spirit keep the acid in check, and that balance is exactly what keeps the family alive.

The formula

• Two parts spirit: whiskey, gin, rum, tequila or pisco, the base plays the lead
• One part citrus: freshly squeezed lemon or lime, never from a bottle
• One part sweet: sugar syrup or a liqueur, depending on the drink

The classic formula is 2 to 1 to 1, many modern bars balance with a bit less sweet, but the goal always stays the same: balance between acid, sugar and strength.

Famous family members

• Whiskey sour: bourbon, lemon, sugar
• Daiquiri: white rum, lime, sugar, the Cuban representative of the house
• Margarita: tequila, lime, orange liqueur
• Sidecar: cognac, lemon, orange liqueur
• Pisco sour: pisco, lime, sugar, often with egg white and a drop of bitters on top

Egg white and texture

Many sours get a splash of egg white: shaken, texture is created, and the foam sits on the drink like a hood. Why the shaker plays the lead here you know from our shaker entry, and whoever wants the drink perfectly smooth pulls in the fine strainer as well, more on that in our double strain entry.

History

Sours appear in the bar books of the 19th century, Jerry Thomas lists the category in his guide of 1862, and the basic formula has barely changed since. Few categories of bar culture are this stable.

The family behind the formula

The sour is the formula, the rest of the family builds on it: the fizz, the Collins and the daisy are sours with sparkle, the flip swaps the citrus for the egg, the smash cuts everything down to mint and ice.

Remember: the sour is the formula, the fizz the sparkle, the Collins the length, the daisy the sweetness, the flip the silk, the smash the ice.

At our lounge

When a sour is on our menu, the balance is right: tart, sweet and strong in rotation, freshly squeezed and shaken until the texture sits. Feel free to ask, the sour is the best exercise for understanding bar culture.