If you pick up a cocktail book, a good one at least, you’ll find that the whiskey sour is not just a drink, but a template. Sours are a whole class of drinks. The original whiskey sour dates back to the early 1800s. The original did not have egg white, red wine, or any of the other modifiers or textural components you’ll find in most modern whiskey sours when ordering at a bar. In today’s post, we tackle what most people call a “whiskey sour,” though it is really a Boston Sour, distinguished by the addition of egg white to create a creamy, fluffy pillow at the top of the drink.

It is fitting that a cocktail so aged is associated with the City of Boston, one of the oldest cities in the United States. Note that indigenous peoples had cities of their own, existing long before the colonization of the Americas. Boston was founded in 1630. Previously, the Massachusett people formed seasonal communities where Boston is today. I’ll be going to Boston later this year for the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. I always look forward to it being there.

Our Boston Sour today will be altered in true Appalachian Speakeasy style. We’re going to substitute orange cordial for the lemon juice and simple syrup in the classic recipe. I’m using Bourbon whiskey and orange, and Bourbon and orange go together really well — classic punch receipts (i.e., the older word for a recipe) often call for the combination of Bourbon (or other whiskey) and orange juice. To make this a true sour, however, we need an orange cordial that more closely approximates the acidity of lemons. So, we’ll build an acidified orange cordial, greatly shortening our road to a whiskey sour once we’re done.

This highlights something about the template for sour drinks. Classic sour recipes call for adding some citrus for flavor and acid, and for simple syrup to provide sweetness and balance. Together, the addition of lemon juice and simple syrup in the classic whiskey sour effectively creates an acidified lemon cordial. When combined with whiskey, this gives us the classic sour. What this means is that, with proper acidity and balance in the classic cordial, making drinks in the sour vein becomes simple.

As I mentioned when discussing the Income Tax cocktail, most bartenders don’t care for orange alone as the citrus component for a drink because it lacks the acidity needed for balance. Remember all the bad cocktails from the 1970s? In modern craft cocktail bars, you’ll find fresh orange juice when used, acidified to approximate the acidity of lemons or limes. That’s what we’ll do here — build an orange cordial that has the acidity of fresh lemon juice using citric acid. Citric is one of the easier acids to lay hands on. It’s common in canning fruits and vegetables, so you can find it in your grocer’s section that offers those ingredients and accouterments. Armed with this recipe and knowledge, you too can be a Minuteman, at least when it comes to whiskey sours.

Let’s tip one. 

Orange Cordial. Place these ingredients in a mason jar or other container and allow them to infuse for 1 day. Fine-strain the cordial through a dampened coffee filter and bottle it. It will last quite a while in the refrigerator, in part, because it lacks the actual orange juice, which oxidizes much more quickly. Normally, it takes about 30 g of citric acid to approximate the acidity of lemon juice (lemon is almost entirely citric acid). I like orange to be just a bit under this target. But it will drink nicely all the way down to around 15 g of citric acid, so you do you. Less acid will approximate the whiskey punch receipts I mentioned above.

Sunset on the Charles. This is a shaken cocktail. Chill your glass thoroughly as it will help the egg white’s foam stability. Add your ingredients to a shaker tin. Bring the tin together and give the cocktail a dry shake to aerate the egg white and create lots of foam. Adding the spring from a hawthorn strainer will greatly aid in this, but it’s a bit of trouble. Shake without ice (a dry shake) for a 25–30 count. Then, add ice to the tin and give it a regular shake. Fine-strain into your glass. If you choose to go with the Angostura float below, you will not be able to do this with a dasher bottle — the dashing action is too violent. Use a dropper or a small spoon to gently float the Angostura. Then use a toothpick to drag through the floating drops, curating the scene. I quite prefer the Angostura in the drink and then the orange zest over the top of the drink above as we did in the Snowcap earlier this year. Either way, enjoy!

Glass: Coupe or Nick and Nora 

I like bourbons in my whiskey sours. In particular, for sours, I like bourbons with less rye. Rye brings a spiciness that, to me, isn’t as tasty in a drink that’s meant to be sour. That’s a personal preference thing. If you like a bourbon with more rye, it will certainly work well. Of course, you can also just use Rye whiskey if you like that spiciness a lot. Irish Whiskey also makes a nice whiskey sour, with smooth, underlying vanilla and toffee notes.

If you don’t want to go to the trouble of making an orange cordial, shame on you. But you’re not bereft of hope. Substitute ¾ oz each of simple syrup and fresh lemon juice for the orange cordial. This will give you the classic Boston Sour.

In terms of technique, you could certainly clarify this drink with milk or coconut milk. Washing the bourbon with coconut fat would also be really nice, adding a more rounded texture to the drink with a hint of coconut in the background — recall, we did this for our Mint Julep for the Kentucky Derby. As for the sugar, you could use simple syrup, maple syrup, or any variation on a sugar syrup to balance the drink. If you replace the simple syrup with a liqueur (e.g., Grand Marnier), you have a whiskey daisy.

As I noted above, this whiskey sour with egg white is a Boston Sour. There are many, many versions of whiskey sours, as noted above. Some use no egg white (the original), while others use other modifiers, like red wine (New York Sour). We’ll get to them all eventually, but the Boston Sour is my favorite. 

Finally, that orange cordial, acidified or otherwise, makes a fantastic homemade soda when combined with club soda. So, if you’re looking for a drink for the little ones among us, it can certainly pull double duty at the party. And, don’t forget to juice those naked oranges for your breakfast the next morning — you’ll need some nourishment to fight off scurvy and other maladies.

Let me know below which version of the whiskey sour you prefer, or where you’ve found particularly good ones in the wild.

This blog is, as ever, an opinionated take on drinks.

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