About the Whiskey Sour cocktail
The Whiskey Sour is a classic sour cocktail made with whiskey, lemon juice, and sugar, often with optional egg white for a silky texture. It is bright, balanced, and whiskey-forward, with fresh lemon adding tartness, sugar rounding the edges, and the whiskey bringing warmth, oak, spice, and depth.
The Whiskey Sour is one of the oldest cocktail styles still widely enjoyed today, with early sour recipes appearing in Jerry Thomas’s 1862 Bartender’s Guide and a published reference to the Whiskey Sour appearing in 1870. Egg white was not usually part of the earliest sours, but it became a common addition in the early 1900s. Whether served with egg white, without it, or topped with red wine as a New York Sour, the Whiskey Sour remains one of the essential classic whiskey cocktails.
