Classic Sour

Whiskey Sour

Name: Whiskey Sour
Total time: 2 min
Ingredients: 50 ml Bourbon; 25 ml Fresh Lemon Juice; 20 ml Simple Syrup (1:1); 20 ml FOAMY WHITES; 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

The Whiskey Sour is one of the enduring templates of classic cocktail making — a study in the balance between spirit, citrus and sugar, lifted by a dense, silken foam. Its structure has changed little in more than a century, which is precisely why it remains one of the truest measures of a bartender's judgement.

Whiskey Sour served in a rocks glass with a dense white foam and three Angostura bitters dots on top, photographed on a warm off-white surface.

Glass: Rocks Glass (Old Fashioned)
Ice: Large fresh ice cubes
Difficulty: Easy
Technique: Single shake · Standard strain

Ingredients

50 mlBourbon
25 mlFresh Lemon Juice
20 mlSimple Syrup — 1:1
20 mlFOAMY WHITES
2 dashesAngostura Bitters

Method

01Fill a shaker with large ice cubes.
02Add bourbon, lemon juice, simple syrup and FOAMY WHITES.
03Shake hard for approximately 10–12 seconds.
04Strain into a rocks glass over fresh large ice cubes.
05Finish with Angostura bitters on the foam and serve immediately.

Build

Glassware: Rocks Glass (Old Fashioned)
Ice: Large fresh ice cubes
Garnish: 2 dashes Angostura bitters on the foam · optional orange peel
Technique: Single shake · Standard strain

Tasting notes

Balanced Structure
Fresh Citrus
Silky Texture
Rich Bourbon Finish

Family: Sour

Origin

Era: Mid-19th century
Place: United States

The Whiskey Sour belongs to the sour family, one of the oldest documented cocktail categories. Its earliest printed recipe appears in Jerry Thomas' 1862 Bar-Tender's Guide, though drinks built on spirit, citrus and sugar were already common in American bars. The addition of egg white — the version most bartenders now consider canonical — became widespread in the late 19th century. No single inventor is credited, and the precise origin remains uncertain. What is beyond dispute is its endurance: the Whiskey Sour has stayed on drinks lists continuously for more than 160 years.

Bartender notes

Lemon juice loses its brightest aromatics within a few hours of pressing. Juice squeezed to order gives cleaner acidity and a foam that reads as fresh rather than flat.
Choose a bourbon of at least 43% ABV. Lower-proof whiskeys are washed out by the citrus and syrup, while higher proof carries structure through dilution and finishes with weight rather than sweetness.
Shake with large, dense cubes. They chill the drink quickly without over-diluting, so the bourbon retains body and the acidity stays defined once the cocktail is poured over fresh ice.
A single hard shake of 10–12 seconds is enough. A dry shake with FOAMY WHITES adds no texture and only warms the ingredients before the ice can do its work.
Standard strain, never fine strain. A mesh breaks the emulsion and thins the foam; the small ice fragments a Hawthorne lets through melt harmlessly on the fresh ice in the glass.
The bitters on the foam are not decoration. Their spice cuts across the sweetness and lifts the aroma on every sip — omit them and the drink reads noticeably flatter.

FOAMY WHITES Note

FOAMY WHITES replaces fresh egg white without changing the shaking process. A single wet shake produces the dense, stable foam a dry shake would build with egg, which means less handling, more consistent texture across a service, and no risk of protein binding with the bourbon.