Whisky Sour
DESCRIPTION
Definitely my favorite drink - Whisky sour! Bourbon, lemon juice, syrup, egg white, angostura bitter and ice is all you need.
When making a cocktail, the devil really is in the details. Hence, this recipe will have a bit more text than my usual recipes, to ensure you can make this drink at home with a satisfying result.
Since most cocktails have quite few components you need to make sure to use good quality ingredients since they all have a big impact on the result. For most cocktails, this usually is translated into that you need to use freshly squeezed lemon and/or lime juice; there really is a tremendous difference if you’re using juice from a bottle.
It’s really worth investing in a good shaker as well. I prefer using a Boston Shaker since it’s easier to loosen the top after you’ve shaken it (compared to a cocktail shaker where you have a 99% chance of getting the drink all over yourself once you’ve accomplished enough force to get the tiny cap of the top), and it’s quite large so you can make up to 3 drinks in on go. Mine can hold 83 cl.
Some like to serve their whisky sour in a classic coupe glass, but doing so won’t enable you to serve it with ice. Since I prefer my Whisky sour really cold, even after sipping on it for a while, I prefer serving it in a lowball glass with a really big ice cube (5x5x5 cm). Small ice cubes melt fast and makes the drink watery in no time at all. Not nice.
Apart from the actual drink, this recipe also tells you how to make classic syrup, used in almost every cocktail, and dried citrus, a really nice garnish for most drinks.
Enough of the theory, here’s how you make the best drink in the world!
INGREDIENTS (lots of syrup and citrus but one cocktail)
Syrup (enough for a lot of cocktails, but it keeps for ages so might as well make a big batch)
5 dl water
5 dl sugar
Dried citrus
A couple of citrus fruits (e.g. lemon, lime, mandarin, orange)
Whisky Sour (1 Cocktail)
5 cl bourbon whisky
3-4 cl freshly squeezed lemon juice (yes, it has to be freshly squeezed and no, you cant replace it with juice from a bottle)
2-3 cl syrup
0.5 egg white
2-3 + 2-3 drops of Angostura Bitter (for shaking and for garnish)
1 slice dried citrus
Angostura bitter, bourbon, syrup, lemon juice
INSTRUCTIONS
Syrup: combine sugar and water in a pot. Bring to a boil, allow to cool and pour into a bottle and put in the fridge. Lasts for months.
Dried citrus: clean the citrus (especially if you’re not using organic ones since the peel can contain toxins).
Slice them very thin and dry in a dryer on 60 degrees for 12-20 hours depending on the thickness of the slices.You can tell they’re done when they are really dry, you shouldn’t get any moisture on your fingers if you’re touching them. If you don’t have a drier, use your oven on the same temperature. Block the hatch with a spoon or similar so the steam can escape.
Cocktail: combine bourbon, lemon juice and sugar. Stir and taste and adjust with more sugar and/or lemon; it should taste too sweet and too sour since the ice will make the drink more watery, and since it will taste less when it’s cold.
Add the egg white and the bitter. Shake vigorously 10-15 times. Dry shaking the cocktail (meaning: shaking without ice) will generate smaller bubbles, creating a more dense foam on the cocktail.
Open the shaker and add 4-5 medium sized ice cubes. Shake 10-15 times more.
Double strain (pour through the shaker strainer and a fine mesh strainer) into a cold glass with a huge ice cube. Garnish with the dried citrus and a few drops of Angostura bitter
Process of drying citrus
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