Today is National Whiskey Sour Day! Celebrate with this delicious recipe from The Bourbon Country Cookbook by David Danielson, executive chef at Churchill Downs Racetrack, and Tim Laird, the chief entertaining officer of Brown-Forman.
WHISKEY SOUR
Sours—simply mixtures of spirit, citrus juice, and sugar—became a popular way to enjoy whiskey and bourbon in the 1950s and 1960s. Bottled mixers provided home mixologists with an easy way to entertain, but there’s nothing that compares to a sour made with fresh ingredients. The original whiskey sour recipe calls for fresh-squeezed lemon juice, sugar, and an egg white, which delivers a cocktail with a wonderful foamy collar. While some folks shy away from raw egg white, it really is the key to making this drink at its delicious best. When you use an egg white, the drink needs to go through a “blind shake”—vigorous shaking in a shaker without ice to achieve the thick foam from the egg white.
Ingredients
1 1/2 oz bourbon
1 1/2 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup
1 egg white
1 cherry, for garnish
Instructions
In a shaker without ice, add the bourbon, lemon juice, syrup, and egg white. Shake the mixture vigorously for at least 30 seconds, keeping your hand tight on the lid, as the egg white will expand. Add half a rocks glass of ice and shake again. Pour the mixture into a separate rocks glass, garnish with the cherry, and serve.