The Cocktail Sour
AKA All your Favorite Drinks (Probably)
Well, the Cocktail Sour might not be the building block of every cocktail... but it's pretty damn close.
If you've been drinking at all before, you've had a sour before. If you've had a Margarita, a Daiquiri, a Mojito, or a Gimlet... then you've had a Cocktail Sour. If you've had any cocktails at all, it's very likely that it's base was a sour. It's the simplest recipe in the world, it makes incredible drinks, and it's easy to add a little *pizzazz* to create a really impressive (but easy) cocktail.
"The Cocktail Sour Formula"
2 oz Spirit
1 oz Sweetener
1 oz Acid
That may look a little bit confusing, so lets translate it into recipes that you have heard of:
“easy” is my middle name… yeah, I didn’t pick it.
Alas, my secret family recipes are out in the open now! Seriously though, these aren’t really the ‘full’ or complete recipes for some of these drinks. Some might say “But a whiskey sour has to have egg whites!”. Others will complain that a Margarita is supposed to have Orange Bitters or juice or something. There are lots and lots of ways to make these drinks the ‘correct’ way, but if you use this base, you will always have a recognizable, decent drink.
My motto is: Don't make it complicated for no reason
Some of these are perfectly good points, but they only serve to make cocktail making a more exclusive club. You might not have three different kinds of orange liqueurs to choose from, but you almost certainly have sugar on hand. You might not feel comfortable with raw egg white in your drink, but should that mean you never get to experience a whiskey sour? I should think not.
Some of the recipes I've listed above are not going to align with the ABA Official Recipes and I stand behind them anyways because they are SIMPLE. They are FAST. With a halfway decent home bar you can make ALL of them in your own home; and finally, I stand behind them for one real reason: I get asked for my recipes ALL THE TIME. People are constantly asking what makes my lemon drop so good and are shocked when I give them a recipe with half the ingredients as another bars. Complicated doesn't always mean better, and when it comes to cocktails. I believe it usually means a little bit worse.
The same recipes but included for anyone using a text reader:
Margarita
2 oz Tequila
1 oz Agave Nectar
1 oz Lime Juice
Daiquiri
2 oz Rum
1 oz Simple Syrup
1 oz Lime Juice
Sidecar
2 oz Brandy
1 oz Cointreau
1 oz Lemon Juice
Lemon Drop
2 oz Vodka
1 oz Simple Syrup
1 oz Lemon Juice
Whiskey Sour
2 oz Whiskey
1 oz Simple Syrup
1 oz Lemon Juice
Gimlet
2 oz Gin
1 oz Simple Syrup
1 oz Lime Juice
Adding Pizzazz to a Cocktail Sour
… all of that's not to say of course that you can’t ever jazz your drinks up a bit! If you check out my post on Lemon Drops you will find that I have lots of ways of jazzing up that drink that are simple and effective. Much of what I describe here will be the same advice.
Flavor the Liquor
splish splash
This is probably my personal favorite way to add something special to a cocktail sour. A Cinnamon Whiskey or Orange Clove Rum will create a whole new experience with very little effort. I especially like this route when planning for a large party or a specialty cocktail. It shifts all the work to pre-party so you can relax and let your inexperienced guests make their own cocktails without compromising quality.
Change the Sweetener
No splish splash
Another fast, easy way to add a whole new element to your Cocktail Sour is to change which sweetener you use. In the examples above you can see that we used Agave Syrup in the Margarita and Cointreau in the Sidecar. Agave is a common substitute (at least here in the southwest) since it tastes sweeter as it gets colder (a rare thing) which makes is perfect for drinks made to be served extremely cold or even frozen.
Sugar Alternatives
Honey
Agave Syrup
Demerera Sugar
Maple Syrup
Brown Sugar
Flavored Simple Syrups
For older drinks or ‘fancier’ cocktails, you may use Liqueurs instead of a non- alcoholic sugar. Cointreau is one of many popular Liqueurs that will enhance your flavor along with your alcohol content. I've listed some of the most popular major brands below, but it doesn't hurt to head down to your local liquor store and look for things that jump out at you. I tend to keep to more fruit or citrus-based liqueurs since I know I will use them eventually. The herbal stuff is usually going to be more for one specific drink that I happen to be craving and may stay on my shelf for a lot longer. I typically recommend trying these at a bar before buying a whole bottle to play with.
Common Liqueurs
Cointreau - Orange
Grand Marnier - Orange
Curacao - Orange
Maraschino - Cherry
Heering - Cherry
Creme De Muir - Blackberry
Amaretto - Nut
Creme de Cacao - chocolate
Kahlua - Coffee
Tia Maria - Coffee
Drambuie - Herb & Honey
Benedictine - Herb
Chartreuse - Herb
Gallano - Herb
Strega - Herb
Here is an example that gives you a little peek at how fancy names and liqueurs can cover the simplicity of a cocktail’s build:
On a menu, the cocktail would read like so:
"The High Garden: Crystal Skull Vodka, Green Chartreuse, Creme De Muir, fresh Lemon".
It sounds so intimidating and fancy, right? But making it would be very simple. 2 oz vodka, 0.5 Herb liqueur, 0.5 blackberry liqueur, 1 oz lemon. The basic principle remains the same, but we've taken a Blackberry/Herb Lemon drop and made it into a $15 signature cocktail.
Add a flower? $20.
A Note About the Sour
There's not much you can do to mix it up on the sour front but it's important to keep in mind a few things. Your two major sources of sour will be Lemons and Limes. Some people are Lemon People. I'm one of those. I'll take lemons over limes in every drink, every time. Some people are Lime people. They like the intensity, the overwhelming sourness of it all. In the event that someone finds them both a little to much and you might be able to sub in orange juice but it just won’t be the same.
If you are making a drink for yourself, use whichever one you want. If you are making a drink for a party, consider sticking to the accepted guidelines (Margarita with lime, Sidecar with lemon). As a general rule of thumb, I stick to the following:
Vodka: Lemon or Lime
Gin: Lime
Whiskey: Lemon
Rum: Lime
Tequila: Lime
Brandy: Lemon
There is also a slight flavor difference between fresh-squeezed juice and juice that was squeezed hours in advance. I don’t have much of a flavor preference so I usually just do fresh or prepped based on how much I plan to use.
Taking it Beyond the Sour
Now, if it was just the Margarita, Daiquiri, and all of their friends, sours would account for a lot of drinks. But I didn’t say the sour was popular, I said it was the building block of almost all drinks. That means you start with a sour, add some more ingredients, and now you have another 30% of all cocktails.
The Mojito is probably the best example of this. It is, in essence, a Daiquiri with mint and soda water. A French 75 is a Gin Sour topped with Champagne.
Once you realize the incredible versatility of the sour and its capacity to produce new cocktails, it's just as easy to break down many bar recipes into this formula. This is incredibly useful, not only for knowing what to expect from your drink but for reproducing it elsewhere. I don’t know what a “Lazy Sunday” might be from that bar you went to one time, but I could take a stab at a “Cucumber Lemon drop with Champaign”
Cucumber Mojito: Sounds fancy. Is fancy. Is also easy.
That’s it for us today! If you want to learn more, check out the blog posts below or head over to Patreon for exclusive content and the ability to send me questions and ideas for posts! Keep an eye out for How to Be 21, to be published in 2027!
