Whiskey sour might just be my favourite drink. Scratch that, it is my favourite drink.

I love it and it’s my go-to cocktail when I go to any new bar or whiskey bar. I order a whiskey sour because it’s my way of testing the establishment. You see, the pallet of your favourite drink is a very personal thing. Getting the whiskey sour balance right for my palette will very likely be different balance to yours.

I might like it sweeter, you might prefer a whiskey from the spicy range. And you know what, that’s OK. The important thing is that you like what you like, and I like what I like, and we both get what we like.

I use the whiskey sour as a barometer for the bar’s ability to mix drinks that suit my pallet, and I’ll pretty quickly switch to beer if it’s a bar that mixes a whiskey sour to someone else’s taste.

I like a few Brisbane whiskey bars in particular like The Gresham, Malt Dining & Bar, and Cobbler and they’d all be happy to host the bucks party you’re arranging for the groom and his crew to show him the best time of his life before the best day of his life.

While I’m not sure what each of those Brizzie bars puts into their shakers, this is what I use when I make them at home.

The Ingredients

Now, most recipes work in ounces. I don’t. I have a shot measure that I use for everything. Maybe it’s a bit amateur, but I’m not shooting for barman of the year here. I just want to get my mix right, so this is what I do.

• 2 shots of Whiskey
• 2 shots of lemon & lime juice
• 2 shots of simple syrup
• 1 small egg white
• Ice cubes

Put all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake. Shake like your life depends on it. You want some good vigorous shaking here to make sure you get that egg white nicely frothed. Strain into an old fashioned glass, or a lowball tumbler glass, filled with ice and add garnish as you like.

Now a bit on the ingredients.

The Whiskey

I like the Bulleit Frontier Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. Yep, an American Bourbon Whiskey (which is what most people go for). I’ve tried a whole bunch of others – Scottish, Irish, Rye, Japanese and Australian – but I keep coming back to Bulleit as my favourite in my home made Whiskey Sours.

It gives the right amount of whiskey flavour without overpowering the whole drink. That’s also the reason I only have one shot of whiskey in my whiskey sours. I find any more than that leaves the the sweet and sour of the other ingredients overpowered by the whiskey.

The Citrus

Most whiskey sour recipes only have lemon juice in them, but I like a bit of lime too to bring a different tart into the mix. When making the lemon/lime mix, I squeeze one large and one small lime and mix them together – the lemon is probably about twice the size of the lime.

It’ll make way more than needed for just one sour, but that’s OK, I usually have a second (and sometimes a cheeky third). But you can always stick it in the fridge for a day or two.

The Simple Syrup

Simple syrup is simply sugar water. Sure, you can buy it from most liquor stores, and maybe the supermarket, but it is really simple to make – just 1:1 sugar and water. When I make it, I usually mix 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water in a saucepan, bring it to the boil and boil, stir until the sugar is dissolved and then set it aside to cool. I then transfer it into a large bottle.

I keep that large bottle full and in the fridge so this simple syrupy goodness is crisp, cold and ready to mix.

Make some tweaks

Like everything these days, there is a lot of optioneering you can do for your mixologies. Google can be your friend and your worst enemy! But lets not fight here. I appreciate purists who don’t want to mess with the original, because it’s the best, and I love it when people brave enough to play around the edges like the one bar I went to that added what seemed like a smoked and caramelised star anise seed pod – the aromas were amazing.

Most recipes will include something to garnish as you serve like bitters, a maraschino cherry, some zest, or maybe a slice of dried orange. I appreciate this when I’m out, but at typically skip over the garnishes when I’m at home. You might like to start off with the fancy pants garnishes if you decide to mix a few for the bucks party, but I reckon you’ll start skipping them pretty quickly after round three or four.

It’s not just a drink, its a memory

Where I learned the lemon lime mix trick was at at Storrs Hall, an award winning lake-front hotel at Bowness-on-Windermere in the UK. Doing my usual test-the-establishment routine, I ordered two whiskey sours from the bar and settled in with my wife in some over-sized armchairs set to the side of the crackling fireplace with views through windows that perfectly framed the shimmering lake over the manicured lawns and gardens. I felt like a true English gentleman who’d just arrived home after a successful hunt.

The whiskey sours arrived and I just sat for a moment, focussed on the opposing sensations from the fire’s warmth on the back if my hand and the coldness of the cocktail in my palm. A single wedge of lemon was sunken into the elixir. No frothed egg white though, which I thought was a miss.

Bringing the glass to take the first sip offered up the familiar citrus aromas, but the first sip provided an ever so subtle difference to the typical whiskey sour palette. And I could not place what it was, but I loved every syrupy-swill that passed my lips. I had to order a second, so off to the bar I trekked to place our order – but really it was to track down the bar person who mixed the whiskey sour and see what they’d done.

More than happy to oblige, the barman who mixed our drinks happily shared their simple lemon/lime tweak while we discussed our shared love of whiskey as he mixed our next round.

Every time I make a whiskey sour at home, or take that first sip of one I order from a bar, it takes me back to Storrs Hall. I get a twinge of excitement as I eagerly anticipate another Storrs Hall moment – but I’m yet to find another lemon-lime palette.

Do your best to find the bucks ‘whiskey sour’ – his drink that’ll take him back to the bucks party for years to come (and for the right reasons, not because when a certain drink touches his lips he feels like throwing up and keeling over!)

Feature image: Geraud Pfeiffer

Author: Bucks Bachelor Stag