How to Make a Whiskey Sour
By David Wondrich
Ingredients
- 2 oz. whiskey—bourbon
- 2/3 oz. lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon superfine sugar
- cocktail glass
Directions
- Shake the bourbon,* juice,** and sugar well with cracked ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass (unless you happen to have a Sour glass).
- Resist, if you can, the impulse to decorate lavishly with fruit, although a maraschino cherry will raise no eyebrows.
For a change, try a Dizzy Sour (nothing to do with the trumpet-wrangler; the recipe's far more ancient than that): Dock the whiskey 1/2 ounce, add 3 dashes of Bénédictine, and float 1/2 ounce dark Jamaican rum on top; garnish with a stick of pineapple, or not.
You can also commit Hari Kari, our pre-Prohibition Wehman Bros. Bartenders Guide informs us, by building the standard recipe in a tall glass, topping it off with fizz water, and bunging in whatever fruits you have in your garnish tray.
* Or rye whiskey, or Canadian whiskey, or Irish whiskey or...
** The juice, more or less, of half a decent-sized lemon