| A typical whiskey sour in a non-standard glass. | |
| Type | Cocktail family |
|---|---|
| Alcohol common in this class of cocktail | |
| Notes | See the article for specifics. |
A sour is a traditional family of mixed drinks. Common examples of sours are the Margarita and the Sidecar. Sours belong to one of the old families of original cocktails and are described by Jerry Thomas in his 1862 book, How to Mix Drinks [1] Sours are mixed drinks containing a base liquor (bourbon or some other whiskey in the case of a whiskey sour), lemon or lime juice, egg white, and a sweetener (triple sec, simple syrup, grenadine, or pineapple juice are common).[2]
Contents |
The Gin Sour is a traditional mixed cocktail that predates Prohibition.
In an 1898 book by Finley Dunne, Mr. Dooley includes it in a list of great supposedly American inventions:[1]
Popular during the 1940s, Kevin Starr includes it in "an array of drinks (the gin sour, the whiskey sour, the Gin Rickey, the Tom Collins, the Pink lady, the Old Fashioned) that now seem period pieces, evocative of another era."[2]
| Type | Cocktail |
|---|---|
| Primary alcohol by volume | |
| Served | shaken |
| Standard garnish |
Sugared glass, lemon rind |
| Standard drinkware | Cocktail glass |
| Commonly used ingredients |
|
| Preparation | Mix the ingredients in a shaker half full of ice. Strain and serve in a sugar-rimmed glass. Garnish with a strip of lemon rind |
| Notes | This cocktail is a variant of the Sidecar |
White Lady (also known as a Delilah, Chelsea Side-car and Lillian Forever) is essentially a Sidecar made with gin in place of brandy. The cocktail sometimes also includes additional ingredients, e.g. egg white, sugar and cream.
It is disputed who originally invented this cocktail. There are at least two different opinions. Firstly, that this cocktail was devised by Harry MacElhone in 1919 at Ciro's Club in London. He originally used crème de menthe, but replaced it with gin at Harry's New York Bar in Paris in 1929.[3]
But The Savoy's Harry Craddock also claims the White Lady (Gin, Cointreau, fresh lemon juice). The recipe appears in his Savoy Cocktail Book, published in 1930.[4] Joe Gilmore, former Head Barman at The Savoy, says this was one of Laurel & Hardy's favourite drinks (source: "The Savoy: Checking into History" Channel 4 TV UK).
In John le Carré's 1965 novel The Looking Glass War, British spy and main protagonist Fred Leiser's favorite drink is a White Lady, and he makes several attempts to get the other agents to try the cocktail.
The Pisco Sour contains pisco brandy (an un-aged grape brandy from Peru and Chile), lime juice, sugar, egg white, and bitters.[5] It is shaken, strained, and served straight in a cocktail glass. The addition of egg white creates a foamier consistency.[6]
The whiskey sour is a famous mixed drink containing Bourbon whiskey, lemon juice, sugar, and optionally a dash of egg white to make it a Boston Sour. It is shaken and served either straight or over ice. The traditional garnish is half an orange slice and a maraschino cherry.
A notable variant of the whiskey sour is the Ward 8, which often is based either in Bourbon or rye whiskey, with both lemon and orange juices, and grenadine syrup as the sweetener. The egg white sometimes employed in other whiskey sours is generally not included in this variation.