Fun fact: today is National Whiskey Sour Day.
Not like I really need “a day” for whiskey drinking—anyone who knows me personally knows that whiskey-, rye-, and bourbon-based drinks are my jam—but sadly it’s not just any day that you can find a good whiskey sour.
A “sour” is a family of drinks that includes the Daquiri, Margarita, and Sidecar. The formula to make a sour cocktail is simple: spirit + the “sour part” (like lemon or lime juice) + the “sweet” part (like simple syrup).
Easy as that. In theory.
I say “in theory” because a simple, three-part recipe should be hard to screw up but yet I hate ordering whiskey sours at restaurants. Actually, I hate ordering most mixed drinks at most restaurants, with chain restaurants and sports bars being the biggest offenders: The sour and sweet parts of mixed drinks are usually co-mingled here in the form of sickeningly-sweet, nuclear yellow-colored bottled sour mix. Yuck.
Fortunately, changing preferences are helping to shift this tide. People are demanding better quality, better-tasting drinks to go with their experiences, whether in-home or at bars and restaurants. Craft cocktails are popping up in unlikely places, like baseball stadiums. Beverage makers have created mixers that ditch artificial colors and include less-processed white sugar, like honey or agave nectar.
Now. I don’t hate all bar mixers—some are perfectly fine and very enjoyable!—but I doubt I would ever use one for a recipe as simple as the Whiskey Sour. In honor of Whiskey Sour day, you may just want to skip a bottle, too, and mix one up from scratch.
There are tons of recipes out there for whiskey sour cocktails but no matter what recipe you use, it should start with a homemade sour mix for best results, IMHO. As the cliche saying asks, is the juice worth the squeeze? In this case, the answer is a resounding yes!, if you care about how your drinks taste.
Sweet-tart sour mix made with fresh citrus juice, no food coloring or corn syrup added. I like pouring the finished mix into a Pyrex measuring cup so I know how much I have as I'm making cocktails, but a squirt bottle or plastic container with a lid works too.
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1-2 large navel oranges
- 1-2 large lemons
- 1-2 large limes
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Remove 1-2 thick strips of peel from each citrus fruit, being careful to just take the peel and leave the white pith behind, and set aside.
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Juice each of the citrus fruits to yield approximately ½ cup orange juice, ¼ cup lemon juice, and ¼ cup lime juice.
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Add the citrus peels to a small saucepan with the sugar, water, and citrus juices.
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Heat until the sugar has melted, swirling or stirring the pan occasionally. Simmer mixture until reduced slightly (it will be thicker and syrupy), about 15-20 minutes. Let cool completely and store, covered, in the refrigerator until ready to use.
