Whiskey Sour Recipe on Food52 (2024)

Cayenne pepper anyone? Two good dashes at the end as a garnish put it over the top for me. Just stir it in a bit before you drink it. = Awesome. John, I like the rosemary/thyme idea. I will have to give that a try. Clearly they go well with lemon on some of the chicken dishes that I've made; why not drinks?

PS007 November 8, 2014

So glad to see the egg white was included in the recipe, it drives me nuts when WS recipes don't include it.
OK co*cktail geeks, if you really want to try an over-the-top WS, especially around the holidays, try adding smoke to the drink and use maple syrup for the sweetener. I use a Smoking Gun, but you can also ignite some wood chips (Oak is best for this application) and invert the shaker over it to capture the smoke. Have the rest of the ingredients ready to go and quickly pour in the shaker with the smoke. Dry shake first if you like to froth the egg white that way, then when you serve it, put a few drops of bitters on top the egg white and use a toothpick to pull them across the froth for a little eye candy, similar to a fancy latte. Finally, shave a bit of fresh nutmeg over the top. OMG AMAZING. you will not taste maple syrup per se, but the way it mixes with the smoke and rye is to die for.
Here are the amounts I use:
2 1/4 oz Rye
1 oz Fresh Lemon
1/2 oz Pure Maple Syrup
Egg White
Angostura Bitters to finish

Alternate: No simple syrup - few drops of aromatic bitters muddled with cane sugar and lemon juice, then step 1, then lightly shave some vanilla bean over the foam. If serving in a boulevardier glass you should also chill the glass with ice cubes while you're making/shaking.

This is my go-to drink. I like to make my simple syrup with thyme or rosemary. It gives it that little something "extra."

Made one on Wednesday night for my old man as a sort of early Father's Day dinner. Used home-made brown sugar & rosemary simple syrup and blended Scotch (since he isn't a fan of bourbon or rye). Did a 3:1:1 ratio (but only 1 egg white for both drinks) and he felt it needed more whiskey.

This is one of my go to bar drinks, though not a ton of bars use an egg white sadly. It's always good though.

Glad to have finally found a proper & correct recipe after having seen the travesties using sour mix, orange juice or any other awful distortion of ingredients.

For an even better whiskey sour, use Meyer lemons and make your simple syrup with cane syrup. A friend made me this variation recently and the difference was amazing.

If you get the perfect balance of sweet/sour/whisky, a whisky sour is a pretty perfect co*cktail. Will try this for sure! But my association isn't 19th century (not quite that old!); rather, my parents' 1960's co*cktail parties, with Herb Alpert on the "hi fi," whisky sours all around. (Also, btw, they go great with Chinese take-out.)