Whiskey Daisy – Original Recipe & History

Whiskey Daisy
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Whiskey Daisy

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

161

kcal
ABV

20%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make the a classic Whiskey Daisy.

Ingredients

  • 1/3 oz 1/3 Lemon Juice

  • 2 dashes 2 Orgeat

  • 3 dashes 3 Gum Syrup

  • 2 oz 2 Bourbon

  • 1.5 oz 1.5 Soda Water

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker except for the soda water.
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake until the ice fully melts.
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a glass.
  • Top with soda water.

Notes

Featured Video

The History Of The Daisy Style Cocktail.

The daisy was another early cocktail style emerging around the same time as the crusta and many other early standard sour cocktails. The Daisy is essentially a crusta with an ounce of soda water to cut the intensity and make the cocktail more refreshing. First appearing in the 1862 edition of the bartender’s guide by Jerry Thomas, The daisy is a beautiful cocktail if you find the standard sour is too strong.

What Does The Whiskey Daisy Taste Like?

The Whiskey Daisy is a beautiful little cocktail that adds a bit of refreshing soda water to a delicious sour cocktail. The small amount of Orgeat adds a lovely almond and cherry taste while the bourbon still shines through as the primary flavor of this cocktail.

The Right Ingredients To Use For This Cocktails.

The most essential ingredient in this cocktail is the orgeat and the kind of whiskey you use. Unlike most cocktails, this one benefits from a nicer bourbon as none of the other ingredients are made to overshadow the base spirit. The subtleties of a nicer whiskey still shine through, so medium-grade bourbon ends up making for a better product. The orgeat is another essential ingredient that adds a faint note of almond and cherry to the cocktail. The issue is cheaper orgeats taste like sweet almond milk and lack the bitter almond cherry flavor of genuine orgeat syrup. If you have a bottle of almond baking extract in your pantry, give that a taste, and you will know what orgeat should taste like. The orgeat is what separates this cocktail from tasting like a standard whiskey sour with soda water.

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Tijuana Sour – Recipe

Tijuana Sour
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Tijuana Sour

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

232

kcal
ABV

19%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make the a classic Tequila Sour.

Ingredients

  • 1 Whole 1 Egg White

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 lime Juice

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Simple Syrup

  • 2 oz 2 Reposado Tequila

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker.
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake till the ice has fully melted.
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a cocktail glass.
  • Garnish:
  • Angostura bitters drops on top

Notes

Featured Video

A Fun Spin On A Classic Boston Sour.

While not a recorded classic cocktail, this is a fun spin on a classic Boston sour. There are very few tequilas in vintage cocktails compared to all the other base spirits, but it shouldn’t stop you from using tequila as a substitute in some of your favorite cocktails. This is essentially a Pisco or Boston Sour recipe with tequila as a substitute, and it tastes great. The tequila’s light smokiness and cactus flavors pair wonderfully with the lime and egg whites. It makes for a cocktail that tastes more like a dessert than a strong drink.

How To Get Great Foam On Cocktails With Egg Whites.

Egg Whites are challenging to get right in cocktails. Everyone struggles with them at some point, and bartenders search for any way to make whipping them into a fluffy meringue easier. Henry Ramos hired “shaker boys” to shake for him. Some use the dry shake or reverse dry shake, others swear by only using one large ice cube, and some say you have to shake till your arms fall off. The method I like is called the Saxe Shake, and De Forest Saxe invented it in the 1880s.

The Saxe Shake is largely unknown in the cocktail world because De Forest Saxe was a soda fountain operator in Chicago, Illinois. His 1890 book “Saxe’s New Guide Hints to Soda Water Dispensers” details his shaking technique for egg drinks that produces the best foam and can be accomplished with minimal effort. Saxe states to shake drinks with eggs with only one chestnut-sized ice cube. An Ice cube from a standard ice tray is about chestnut-sized, so one or two small cubes will work. Then shake until the ice fully melts, and pour into the serving glass without straining. The small amount of ice is just enough to cool and dilute the drink, and since there are no remaining bits of ice left in the shaker, there is nothing to strain. Passing the mixture through a strainer destroys most of the bubbles you worked so hard to make. As you add soda water, the escaping carbon dioxide fills the tiny bubbles in the drink, forcing them to expand and form a large fluffy foam. Give it a try. Using the Saxe Shake, I have turned out Ramos Gin Fizzes as fast and efficiently as any other shaken cocktail with excellent results.

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Brandy Crusta – Original Recipe & History

Brandy Crusta Cocktail
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Brandy Crusta

4 from 1 vote Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

193

kcal
ABV

30%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make the a classic Brandy Crusta.

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp 1 Lemon Juice

  • 1/3 oz 1/3 Gum Syrup

  • 1 tsp 1 Orange Liqueur

  • 1 dash 1 Cardamom Bitters

  • 2 oz 2 Brandy

Directions

  • Technique: Simple Stir
  • Moisten a cocktail glass rim with a cut lemon slice and rub the end in granulated sugar to create a sugar crust.
  • Combine all ingredients in the mixing glass.
  • Add ice to the mixing glass.
  • Stir the ingredients for 10 – 15 seconds. Try to avoid over-diluting the drink.
  • Strain into a glass.

Notes

Featured Video

The History Of The Brandy Crusta.

First printed in the 1862 Bartenders Guide by Jerry Thomas, the Brandy Crusta is old as it is delicious. The Crusta is considered one of the oldest fancy sours and is named for its decorative sugar-crusted rim. It was invented in the 1850s by Joseph Santini in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, and was made to try and improve the taste of the standard sour cocktail. You can spot a crusta by its oversized decorative lemon peel that imparts that this is a special elevated sour cocktail.

What Does The Brandy Crusta Taste Like?

These fantastic cocktails taste light and delicate while not being overly sour or overly sweet. While the standard sour is more flavorful and benefits from sharper, more intense spirits, this one is different. In my experience, a top-shelf spirit works better. This is because you are not overwhelming the base spirit with a whole ounce of sweetener and citrus, and the more subtle finer qualities of a better base spirit can still come through. Make this with the perspective that you are not making a solid, flavorful cocktail but adding subtle flavor and complexity to an already delicious spirit.

Balancing This Delicious and Subtle Cocktail.

There isn’t any single essential ingredient in this cocktail; instead, all the elements come together in the proper balance. But if I tried to narrow it down, I would say the brandy, orange liqueur, and gum syrup are the most essential parts of this cocktail. You want to use a good base spirit for this cocktail as none of the other ingredients are made to mask the flavor of a lower-quality spirit. So whatever the quality of the base spirit will make a meaningful difference in the final product. The orange liqueur matters, too, because cheap orange liqueurs are typically not very good. I love buying on value, but I’ve never found a cheaper orange liqueur that also tasted good, and with how this drink is structured, you will notice a cheap orange liqueur—lastly, the gum syrup. You can use a standard simple syrup if you prefer and what that will change is the cocktail’s texture. Gum Syrup has gum arabic and gives the cocktail a velvety consistency similar to what egg whites provide. A smooth, meringue-y, velvet, dessert-like texture. Standard simple syrup will not add this texture and make for a thinner liquid texture cocktail, but you may prefer that. If you like your sours without egg whites, then opt for using standard simple syrup but if you like sours with egg whites, buy a bottle of gum syrup and give it a go.

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Pisco Sour – Classic Recipe & History

Pisco Sour
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Pisco Sour

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: Peruvian
Servings

1

servings
Calories

214

kcal
ABV

17%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make the a classic Pisco Sour.

Ingredients

  • 1 Whole 1 Egg White

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Lemon Juice

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Simple Syrup

  • 2 oz 2 Pisco Sour

  • 2 dashes 2 Angostura Bitters

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker.
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake till the ice has fully melted.
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a cocktail glass.
  • Garnish:
  • Angostura bitters drops on top

Notes

Featured Video

The History Of The Pisco Sour.

There is a debate whether the Pisco Sour was invented in Peru or Chile, and it has merit. Both Peru and Chile argue who created Pisco in the first place, and while similar drinks may have been made around the same time in both areas, the recipe that is considered canon was invented in Lima, Peru, in the 1920s by Victor Morris. Victor Morris was most likely making a sour with egg whites and using the local spirit pisco as the base, an American immigrant living in Peru. He also is most likely the actual inventor of this cocktail. Mixing drinks in this style was an American and British way of making drinks. The local Peruvians or Chileans were most likely drinking their pisco straight.

What Does The Pisco Sour Taste Like?

Many Americans have not heard of the Pisco Sour or even know what Pisco is, for that matter. Pisco is typically an unoaked brandy from Peru and Chili. Both countries claim to have invented it, but no one knows who made it first. Most likely, both counties distilled wine and made Pisco around the same time. Pisco is a beautiful spirit that tastes like a cross between brandy and vodka. Pisco has the standard brandy notes of grape and earthy red wine flavors but lacks the vanilla oak flavors of French or American brandy. Since it is not aged, it has a much drier taste, too, similar to vodka. Traditionally it is sipped neat so the subtle flavors can be savored.

The Pisco Sour tastes like a drier whiskey sour with egg whites. (I prefer to call a whiskey sour with egg whites a Boston Sour). The part that is concerning for most people before trying a Pisco Sour is its knowledge of egg whites. When people hear eggs, they think of scrambled eggs but should be comparing them to a meringue; when shaken vigorously, the egg whites foam into a sweet cocktail infused with divine meringue. Not only is this a good-tasting cocktail, but it’s also amazing.

How To Order a Pisco Sour.

This isn’t really a cocktail you can just order anywhere. This maybe one you end up making at home more often than not. Most normal bars won’t make this for you or they won’t even have Pisco stocked. The Pisco Sour can be ordered at either: 1) A high end craft cocktail bar. 2) Bars that make other cocktails with egg whites. 3) A bar with the Pisco sour on the menu obviously. 4) A Peruvian or Chilean restaurant. And again there is no harm in politely asking if the bartender can make one.

How To Get Great Foam On Cocktails With Egg Whites.

Egg Whites are challenging to get right in cocktails. Everyone struggles with them at some point, and bartenders search for any way to make whipping them into a fluffy meringue easier. Henry Ramos hired “shaker boys” to shake for him. Some use the dry shake or reverse dry shake, others swear by only using one large ice cube, and some say you have to shake till your arms fall off. The method I like is called the Saxe Shake, and De Forest Saxe invented it in the 1880s.

The Saxe Shake is largely unknown in the cocktail world because De Forest Saxe was a soda fountain operator in Chicago, Illinois. His 1890 book “Saxe’s New Guide Hints to Soda Water Dispensers” details his shaking technique for egg drinks that produces the best foam and can be accomplished with minimal effort. Saxe states to shake drinks with eggs with only one chestnut-sized ice cube. An Ice cube from a standard ice tray is about chestnut-sized, so one or two small cubes will work. Then shake until the ice fully melts, and pour into the serving glass without straining. The small amount of ice is just enough to cool and dilute the drink, and since there are no remaining bits of ice left in the shaker, there is nothing to strain. Passing the mixture through a strainer destroys most of the bubbles you worked so hard to make. As you add soda water, the escaping carbon dioxide fills the tiny bubbles in the drink, forcing them to expand and form a large fluffy foam. Give it a try. Using the Saxe Shake, I have turned out Ramos Gin Fizzes as fast and efficiently as any other shaken cocktail with excellent results.

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Rattlesnake – Original Recipe & History

Rattlesnake
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Rattlesnake

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: British
Servings

1

servings
Calories

231

kcal
ABV

23%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make the a classic Rattlesnake Cocktail.

Ingredients

  • 1 whole 1 Egg White

  • 2 dashes 2 Absinthe

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Lemon Juice

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Simple Syrup

  • 2 oz 2 Scotch

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker.
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake till the ice has fully melted.
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a cocktail glass.
  • Garnish:
  • Angostura bitters drops on top

Notes

Featured Video

What Does The Rattlesnake Taste Like?

This tastes very similar to a whiskey sour with egg whites. They taste almost the same, but the small addition of absinthe does add an excellent herbal profile to the cocktail. If you like sours and herbal flavors, this is one to try. The Savoy Cocktail Book claimed it was so strong it could cure a rattlesnake bite, but it’s not that intense, it’s pretty lovely, and I would say an improvement over the standard whiskey sour.

A Short History Of The American Bar at the Savoy Hotel In London.

In 1893, The American Bar at the Savoy hotel started serving American-style cocktails in London to the British upper class. The American Bar has always been a high-end bar but what set it on the map was when Harry Craddock became its head bartender in the 1920s. Harry Craddock was a British-born bartender who immigrated to the United States, eventually becoming a US citizen and head bartender of several high-end hotel bars. Still, Harry found himself out of work with the start of prohibition in 1920. He then immigrated back to England and became head bartender of the Savoy Hotel’s Bar. Harry transformed The American Bar from a high-end bar to one of the seminal cocktail bars of the 20th century. As the American prohibition was ending, the hotel realized it should record all of its most famous recipes and the innovations Harry brought to the bar. A year later, they published the Savoy Cocktail Book. Printed in 1934, the Savoy Cocktail Book documents the bar’s best recipes from the 1890s to the 1930s and stands as the pillar of prohibition-era European cocktail innovation. If Jerry Thomas’s Bartenders Guide is the best cocktail book the 1800s gave us, then The Savoy Cocktail Book is the best cocktail book of the first half of the 1900s. I don’t think I will ever be able to drink there, though. A cocktail cost around $250 there, and they have one that’s almost $1000, and I’m not the Amazon guy, so good thing we have their recipe book.

How To Get Great Foam On Cocktails With Egg Whites.

Egg Whites are challenging to get right in cocktails. Everyone struggles with them at some point, and bartenders search for any way to make whipping them into a fluffy meringue easier. Henry Ramos hired “shaker boys” to shake for him. Some use the dry shake or reverse dry shake, others swear by only using one large ice cube, and some say you have to shake till your arms fall off. The method I like is called the Saxe Shake, and De Forest Saxe invented it in the 1880s.

The Saxe Shake is largely unknown in the cocktail world because De Forest Saxe was a soda fountain operator in Chicago, Illinois. His 1890 book “Saxe’s New Guide Hints to Soda Water Dispensers” details his shaking technique for egg drinks that produces the best foam and can be accomplished with minimal effort. Saxe states to shake drinks with eggs with only one chestnut-sized ice cube. An Ice cube from a standard ice tray is about chestnut-sized, so one or two small cubes will work. Then shake until the ice fully melts, and pour into the serving glass without straining. The small amount of ice is just enough to cool and dilute the drink, and since there are no remaining bits of ice left in the shaker, there is nothing to strain. Passing the mixture through a strainer destroys most of the bubbles you worked so hard to make. As you add soda water, the escaping carbon dioxide fills the tiny bubbles in the drink, forcing them to expand and form a large fluffy foam. Give it a try. Using the Saxe Shake, I have turned out Ramos Gin Fizzes as fast and efficiently as any other shaken cocktail with excellent results.

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Brandy Daisy – Original Recipe & History

Brandy Daisy Cocktail
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Brandy Daisy

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

300

kcal
ABV

21%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a classic Brandy Daisy.

Ingredients

  • 1/3 oz 1/3 Lemon Juice

  • 1 tsp 1 Gum Syrup

  • 3 dashes 3 Orange Liqueur

  • 1 tsp 1 Gold Rum

  • 2 oz 2 Brandy Daisy

  • 1.5 oz 1.5 Soda Water

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker except for the soda water.
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake until the ice fully melts.
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a glass.
  • Top with soda water.

Notes

Featured Video

The History Of The Daisy Style Cocktail.

The daisy was another early cocktail style emerging around the same time as the crusta and many other early standard sour cocktails. The Daisy is essentially a crusta with an ounce of soda water to cut the intensity and make the cocktail more refreshing. First appearing in the 1862 edition of the bartender’s guide by Jerry Thomas, The daisy is a beautiful cocktail if you find the standard sour is a bit too strong.

What Does The Brandy Daisy Taste Like?

The Brandy Daisy is a beautiful little cocktail that adds a bit of refreshing soda water to a delicious sour cocktail. The small amount of Orange Liqueur adds a pleasant orange flavor on top of the citrus. The primary flavor is still brandy, and the subtle flavors of the brandy shine through in this cocktail.

A Nice Brandy Taste Better In This Cocktail.

The most essential ingredient in this cocktail is the brandy you use. I don’t often use fine sipping spirits for cocktails. Still, the proportion of the other ingredients is so small that a nicer, more mellow brandy makes for a better-balanced drink where you can still appreciate the subtleties of a nicer brandy. The brandy daisy is a beautiful drink, but it’s not for everyone. If you love brandy and find the sidecar cocktail too sweet, this is the cocktail for you.

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Santa Cruz Sour – Classic Recipe & History

Santa Cruz Sour
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Santa Cruz Sour

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

183

kcal
ABV

25%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a classic Santa Cruz Sour.

Ingredients

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Lemon Juice

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Simple Syrup

  • 2 oz 2 Gold Rum

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker.
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake until the ice fully melts.
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a glass with ice.
  • Garnish:
  • Orange slice

Notes

Featured Video

What Is The Difference Between The Rum Sour, Santa Cruz Sour, And The St. Croix Sour?

The rum sour, Santa Cruz sour, and St. Croix Sour are all the same drinks, and one name is not more correct than the other. Even though rum sour is the name used today, I went with the name Santa Cruz Sour because it’s the name used in the oldest cocktail book to reference it. The oldest name for this cocktail that I could find was Jerry Thomas’s Santa Cruz Sour in his 1862 edition of The Bartenders Guide. The reason he used that name was the island the very popular Cruzan rum used in the cocktail came from was St. Croix, but he used the original Spanish spelling of the island. Even into the early 1900s, the name of this cocktail was still the Santa Cruz Sour or the St. Croix Sour. St. Croix is the more modern French spelling of the island’s name, so some bartenders preferred to use that spelling instead of the older Spanish spelling. This cocktail wasn’t called the rum sour until around the 1930s when cocktails books began to group all sours as a general recipe. Most books say, “Sours are usually all prepared the same. The juice of half a lemon, one tablespoon of syrup, and 2 oz of any spirit. Gin, whiskey, brandy, rum, etc.”. The name Santa Cruz or St. Croix dropped, and the more generic term, rum sour, became common.

To Add Egg Whites Or Not To Add Egg Whites.

Historically speaking, if a cocktail was a simple sour, it did not have egg whites. Yes, there were cocktails like the clover club or pink lady that had egg whites, or you can go back even further to the Fizz-style cocktails from the 1880s that had egg whites. But not until the early 1950s am I able to find anyone using egg whites in a cocktail labeled a Sour. Sour cocktails before the 1950s that used egg whites in this way all seemed to have fun names and were presented as cocktails for the ladies. In the 1930s or 40s, if a man ordered a whiskey sour and were handed one with egg whites, he would probably be offended or think the bartender mixed his drink up with some women’s at the bar. I looked through maybe 100+ books ranging from the 1880s to the late 1960s, which was pretty consistently what I found.

The earliest use of egg whites in a standard sour I could find was from King Cocktail by Eddie Clark. In 1947 Eddie Clark was the successor head bartender to Harry Craddock at the Savoy. The 1955 official British Bartenders union cocktail book, The UKBG, also mentions using egg whites in sours, but both books say they are optional and not traditional. Assumedly egg whites were added upon request and not the usual way a whiskey sour was made. Keep in mind Harry Craddock, 1920 – the 40s, did not make his sours with egg whites. All those cocktails had different fun names. Eddie Clark even grouped those fun cocktails in his book’s “For ladies only” section.

A Short History Of Sours.

While a standard American style sour is likely as old as the country itself, it traces its origins to the Age of Exploration. In the mid-1500s, the Spanish Navy began preserving concentrated lime juice in high-proof spirits that could last on long voyages as medication to fight and prevent scurvy. These medications were known for being super sour and not tasting good. In the early 1800s, there were attempts at improving these into actually good drinks, and one of these is the standard Sour cocktail of 2 oz base spirit, 1 oz citrus, and 1/2 oz simple syrup. This traditional recipe still has its roots in the overly sour medication, but by reducing the citrus by 1/3, you end up with a tastier product. Please enjoy this early rum sour pulled from the 1862 edition of the Bar-Tenders guide by Jerry Thomas.

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Whiskey Sour – Classic Recipe & History

Whiskey Sour
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Whiskey Sour

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

213

kcal
ABV

25%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a classic Whiskey Sour.

Ingredients

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Lemon Juice

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Simple Syrup

  • 2 oz 2 Bourbon

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker.
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake until the ice fully melts.
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a glass.
  • Garnish:
  • Maraschino cherry

Notes

Featured Video

The Origins Of The Whiskey Sour.

While the standard American style sour is likely as old as the country itself, it traces its origins to the Age of Exploration. In the mid-1500s, the Spanish Navy began preserving concentrated lime juice in high-proof spirits that could last on long voyages as medication to fight and prevent scurvy. These medications were known for being super sour and not tasting good. In the early 1800s, there were attempts at improving these into actually good drinks. Along with crustas and daisies, the sour was one of these attempts. The sour cocktail is simple and follows a structure of 2 oz base spirit, 1 oz citrus, and 1/2 oz simple syrup. This standard recipe still has its roots in the overly sour medication, and I find this ratio a bit too acidic. By reducing the citrus to 2/3 oz or 20 mLs, I have found you end up with a tastier drink that most people find pleasant. Please enjoy this early whiskey sour pulled from the 1862 edition of the Bar-Tenders guide by Jerry Thomas. Jerry Thomas’s sour recipes stayed unchanged until the 1950s when cocktail books said you could add egg whites for a more velvety texture. The books stressed that adding egg whites was optional and not traditional.

To Add Egg Whites Or Not To Add Egg Whites.

This has been the single most challenging cocktail to document, and I try to keep my sources to only published books. Sometimes I use newspapers, but I don’t give them much weight. The conclusion I have come to is a traditional whiskey sour; all sours, for that matter, do not have egg whites. Yes, there were cocktails like the clover club or pink lady that had egg whites, or you can go back even further to the Fizz-style cocktails from the 1880s that had egg whites. But not until the early 1950s am I able to find anyone using egg whites in a cocktail labeled a Whiskey Sour. Sour cocktails before the 1950s that used egg whites in this way all seemed to have fun names and were presented as cocktails for the ladies. In the 1930s or 40s, if a man ordered a whiskey sour and were handed one with egg whites, he would probably be offended or think the bartender mixed his drink up with some women’s at the bar. I looked through maybe 100+ books ranging from the 1880s to the late 1960s, which was pretty consistently what I found.

The earliest use of egg whites in a standard sour I could find was from King Cocktail by Eddie Clark. In 1947 Eddie Clark was the successor head bartender to Harry Craddock at the Savoy. The 1955 official British Bartenders union cocktail book, The UKBG, also mentions using egg whites in sours, but both books say they are optional and not traditional. Assumedly egg whites were added upon request and not the usual way a whiskey sour was made. Keep in mind Harry Craddock, 1920 – the 40s, did not make his sours with egg whites. All those cocktails had different fun names. Eddie Clark even grouped those fun cocktails in his book’s “For ladies only” section.

Use The Right Kind Whiskey For A Whiskey Sour.

The most essential ingredient in the whiskey sour is the kind of whiskey. First off, don’t use scotch. While great for sipping, it’s not great for mixing, and the lemon and sugar are so strong they overpower the more mellow, smooth flavors of most scotches. Second, Don’t use Irish whiskey. The smoky, mossy flavor doesn’t pair well with the sweet and tart lemon flavors. The two whiskeys to consider are bourbon and rye. Bourbon is the more common and traditional choice. Its corn, vanilla, toasted oak, etc. flavor pair well with the other two ingredients. I like using rye for mixing, though, and I think a nice rye whiskey is perfect for this drink. Rye is spicy and sharp, and when it’s combined with sugar and lemon, the combination is excellent. I feel rye is awful to sip (I’m not too fond of the spiciness of most rye whiskeys straight), but when it’s used to mix, it makes excellent drinks.

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Gin Sour – Classic Recipe & History

Gin Sour
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Gin Sour

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

303

kcal
ABV

22%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a classic Gin Sour cocktail.

Ingredients

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Lemon Juice

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Simple Syrup

  • 2 oz 2 Genever

Directions

  • Technique: Tiki Dirty Pour
  • Combine all ingredients into a shaker with crushed ice.
  • Vigorously shake for 10 seconds.
  • Dirty pour the whole shaker into a glass. Crushed ice and all.
  • Garnish:
  • Orange slice

Notes

Featured Video

What Is The Difference Between The Gin Sour And The Gimlet?

The gin sour and gimlet are different and don’t share the same ingredients. The gin sour is traditionally genever, simple syrup, and lemon juice, while the Gimlet is dry gin, orange liqueur, and lime juice. Granted, regardless of being utterly different ingredient-wise, they taste somewhat similar. There is a taste difference, but it’s not much.

Gin Sour Variations.

There are many variations of the gin sour and cocktails that are very similar in taste. Your main variations are the gin sours with egg whites, gin daisy, gimlet, and gin fizz. The gin sour with egg whites is a gin sour that uses dry gin and egg whites, some of the earliest published records of this variation dates from around the 1950s. The Gin Daisy is a gin sour with a bit of soda water to soften the sourness, and the daisy style dates around the 1860s. The gimlet, as mentioned above, is a fancy gin sour that replaces the simple syrup with orange liqueur. The Gimlet dates from around the 1920s. The final variation is gin fizz, a gin sour with egg whites and soda water. The gin fizz is a fantastic drink that is refreshing and has a velvety texture—the gin fizz dates from around the 1880s.

To Add Egg Whites Or Not To Add Egg Whites.

Historically speaking, if a cocktail was a simple sour, it did not have egg whites. Yes, there were cocktails like the clover club or pink lady that had egg whites, or you can go back even further to the Fizz-style cocktails from the 1880s that had egg whites. But not until the early 1950s am I able to find anyone using egg whites in a cocktail labeled a Sour. Sour cocktails before the 1950s that used egg whites in this way all seemed to have fun names and were presented as cocktails for the ladies. In the 1930s or 40s, if a man ordered a whiskey sour and were handed one with egg whites, he would probably be offended or think the bartender mixed his drink up with some women’s at the bar. I looked through maybe 100+ books ranging from the 1880s to the late 1960s, which was pretty consistently what I found.

The earliest use of egg whites in a standard sour I could find was from King Cocktail by Eddie Clark. In 1947 Eddie Clark was the successor head bartender to Harry Craddock at the Savoy. The 1955 official British Bartenders union cocktail book, The UKBG, also mentions using egg whites in sours, but both books say they are optional and not traditional. Assumedly egg whites were added upon request and not the usual way a whiskey sour was made. Keep in mind Harry Craddock, 1920 – the 40s, did not make his sours with egg whites. All those cocktails had different fun names. Eddie Clark even grouped those fun cocktails in his book’s “For ladies only” section.

A Short History Of Sours.

While a standard American style sour is likely as old as the country itself, it traces its origins to the Age of Exploration. In the mid-1500s, the Spanish Navy began preserving concentrated lime juice in high-proof spirits that could last on long voyages as medication to fight and prevent scurvy. These medications were known for being super sour and not tasting good. In the early 1800s, there were attempts at improving these into actually good drinks, and one of these is the standard Sour cocktail of 2 oz base spirit, 1 oz citrus, and 1/2 oz simple syrup. This traditional recipe still has its roots in the overly sour medication, but by reducing the citrus by 1/3, you end up with a tastier product. Please enjoy this early rum sour pulled from the 1862 edition of the Bar-Tenders guide by Jerry Thomas.

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Brandy Sour – Original Recipe & History

Brandy Sour Cocktail
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Brandy Sour

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

195

kcal
ABV

25%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a classic Brandy Sour cocktail.

Ingredients

  • 2/3 oz 2/3 Lemon Juice

  • 1/2 oz 1/2 Simple Syrup

  • 2 oz 2 Brandy

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker.
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake until the ice fully melts.
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a glass.

Notes

Featured Video

To Add Egg Whites Or Not To Add Egg Whites.

Historically speaking, if a cocktail was a simple sour, it did not have egg whites. Yes, there were cocktails like the clover club or pink lady that had egg whites, or you can go back even further to the Fizz-style cocktails from the 1880s that had egg whites. But not until the early 1950s am I able to find anyone using egg whites in a cocktail labeled a Sour. Sour cocktails before the 1950s that used egg whites in this way all seemed to have fun names and were presented as cocktails for the ladies. In the 1930s or 40s, if a man ordered a whiskey sour and were handed one with egg whites, he would probably be offended or think the bartender mixed his drink up with some women’s at the bar. I looked through maybe 100+ books ranging from the 1880s to the late 1960s, which was pretty consistently what I found.

The earliest use of egg whites in a standard sour I could find was from King Cocktail by Eddie Clark. In 1947 Eddie Clark was the successor head bartender to Harry Craddock at the Savoy. The 1955 official British Bartenders union cocktail book, The UKBG, also mentions using egg whites in sours, but both books say they are optional and not traditional. Assumedly egg whites were added upon request and not the usual way a whiskey sour was made. Keep in mind Harry Craddock, 1920 – the 40s, did not make his sours with egg whites. All those cocktails had different fun names. Eddie Clark even grouped those fun cocktails in his book’s “For ladies only” section.

A Short History Of Sours.

While a standard American style sour is likely as old as the country itself, it traces its origins to the Age of Exploration. In the mid-1500s, the Spanish Navy began preserving concentrated lime juice in high-proof spirits that could last on long voyages as medication to fight and prevent scurvy. These medications were known for being super sour and not tasting good. In the early 1800s, there were attempts at improving these into actually good drinks, and one of these is the standard Sour cocktail of 2 oz base spirit, 1 oz citrus, and 1/2 oz simple syrup. This traditional recipe still has its roots in the overly sour medication, but by reducing the citrus by 1/3, you end up with a tastier product. Please enjoy this early rum sour pulled from the 1862 edition of the Bar-Tenders guide by Jerry Thomas.

Recipe Resources

Related Articles

Advertisements
Advertisements

Discover More Classics

Advertisements