One formula — ten cocktails: sours from Whiskey Sour to Penicillin
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If you break down bar classics into families, the most numerous will be neither the martini family nor the Negroni family, but the sours. The formula is as simple as a stool: strong alcohol, fresh citrus, a bit of sweetness. That's it. A Daiquiri is a sour with rum. A Margarita is a sour with tequila and liqueur instead of syrup. A Gimlet is a sour with gin. Half of the cocktail menu in any bar around the world consists of variations on the same proportions, and once you see that, you'll stop memorizing recipes as a list: there will be one formula and a dozen accents left.
Behind the bar, I explain it like this: a sour is a seesaw. On one side is acid, on the other is sugar, and in the middle is the spirit that rocks this seesaw. If you break the balance by five milliliters, even someone who 'just came to sit' will feel it. That's why in sours, more than anywhere else, a jigger is important: pouring by eye here is more expensive than it seems.
Two rules for the whole family. First: citrus — only freshly squeezed; juice from a carton turns any sour into lemonade with a hint of alcohol. Second: the shake must be honest — fifteen seconds, until frost forms on the metal, because dilution with ice is not a side effect, but part of the recipe. Below are ten sours from the catalog 24cocktails.com, from the benchmark of 1862 to the inventions of the 2000s. I give the proportions and steps exactly as they are written in the recipes on the site.
1. Whiskey Sour
The starting point for the whole family. The first printed mention of a sour is in Jerry Thomas's bartending guide from 1862, and since then the formula hasn't changed a bit: bourbon, lemon, sugar. Egg white is optional, but it’s what turns a good cocktail into a great one: silky texture and a thick white cap that holds the aroma. The taste is bourbon caramel wrapped in lemon tartness; a drink that is equally appropriate in July with ice and in November under a blanket.
Ingredients
- Bourbon — 50 ml
- Lemon juice — 25 ml
- Sugar syrup — 15 ml
- Egg white — 1 white (optional)
How to prepare
- Do a dry shake (without ice) with the egg white — 10 seconds.
- Add ice and shake for another 15 seconds.
- Strain into an old fashioned glass with fresh ice.
- Garnish with a slice of orange and a cherry.
Tip: the dry shake — first, and this is crucial: without ice, the egg white froths up, with ice — it just cools down. If you're worried about raw egg white — use aquafaba, the liquid from a can of chickpeas: two teaspoons give you the same foam, and no one will taste the difference in the finished cocktail.
2. Boston Sour
Formally — it's the same whiskey sour, but with the mandatory egg white and using blended whiskey instead of bourbon. In practice, the difference is noticeable: blended whiskey is smoother and drier than caramel bourbon, and the egg white here is not a guest, but the host — the foam comes out thick, almost like on a cappuccino. This is a sour for those who love texture: the first sip passes through a cool protein cushion, and only then does the whiskey appear. A good way to understand why bartenders even use eggs.
Ingredients
- Blended whiskey — 60 ml (2 oz)
- Lemon juice — juice of 1/2 lemon
- Powdered sugar — 1 tsp.
- Egg white — 1 pc.
- Lemon slice — 1 (for garnish)
- Cherry — 1 pc. (for garnish)
How to prepare
- In a shaker, mix lemon juice, powdered sugar, whiskey, and egg white.
- Add crushed ice.
- Shake well.
- Strain into a whiskey sour glass.
- Garnish with a lemon slice and a cherry.
Tip: Powdered sugar instead of syrup is not a whim: it dissolves in a cold mix faster than granulated sugar and doesn't dilute the cocktail with water. Just sift out the lumps — and shake longer than usual, crushed ice melts quickly, so it's important not to overdo it.
3. Gimlet
A sour made with gin and lime, which has a naval legend behind it: according to the most popular version, British naval officers mixed gin with lime cordial to drink their prescribed lime ration against scurvy without grimacing. Raymond Chandler, through his detective Marlowe, demanded 'half gin and half lime juice, and nothing more' — our recipe is softer and closer to the modern bar: fresh lime plus syrup. It results in a dry, composed, very 'adult' cocktail: juniper and lime, no frills.
Ingredients
- Gin — 2 1/2 oz
- Lime juice — 1/2 oz
- Simple syrup — 1/2 oz
- Lime — 2 wedges
How to prepare
- Add all the ingredients to a shaker.
- Fill the shaker with ice.
- Shake well.
- Strain into a chilled cocktail glass or an old-fashioned glass with fresh ice.
- Garnish with a lime wheel.
Tip: the ratio here leans towards gin, so use one that you actually enjoy drinking—there's no hiding it. Chill the glass in the freezer beforehand: a gimlet is served without ice, and every degree counts.
4. Daiquiri
A rum sour named after the mining village of Daiquiri in Cuba: it's believed that the recipe was solidified by American engineer Jennings Cox in the late 19th century, and it gained worldwide fame thanks to Hemingway, who allegedly drank them by the dozen at the Havana bar El Floridita. Forget about the strawberry slush from the blender: a real daiquiri is three ingredients and a shaker. Light rum, lime, sugar—dry, icy, with a sharp tartness; a cocktail tuning fork by which bartenders are tested in interviews.
Ingredients
- White rum — 1 1/2 oz
- Juice of half a lime
- Powdered sugar — 1 tsp.
How to prepare
- Pour all the ingredients into a shaker with ice cubes.
- Shake well.
- Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Tip: Daiquiri lives for seconds — heat kills it faster than any other cocktail on this list. Sip it slowly while the glass is frosty, and it's better to make the portion smaller than larger: two small icy daiquiris are always tastier than one big warm one.
5. Margarita (Margarita)
The most famous sour on the planet, even if it’s rarely called that. The formula is classic, but instead of syrup, the sweet part is played by orange liqueur — it provides both sugar and aroma. The authorship is still debated: there are more than a dozen claimants to 'I invented the Margarita,' from Mexican restaurateurs to Texas socialites, and no version has been proven. What is proven, though, is that salt on the rim is not just a decoration, but an ingredient; it softens the sharpness of the tequila and makes the lime brighter.
Ingredients
- Tequila — 50 ml
- Triple Sec — 25 ml
- Lime juice — 25 ml
How to make
- Run a lime wedge around the rim of the glass and dip the edge in salt.
- In a shaker with ice, add the tequila, triple sec, and lime juice.
- Shake vigorously for 10-15 seconds.
- Strain into the glass and garnish with a lime wedge.
Tip: salt only the outside of the rim — salt inside the glass gets into the cocktail and by the last sip turns it into brine. And give half a second of attention to the tequila bottle: look for the words '100% agave', tequila made from a mix of spirits will give a harsh fusel note that even lime won't hide.
6. Tequila Sour
The younger sister of the Margarita, who is unjustly forgotten: take out the orange liqueur, replace the lime with lemon — and the tequila sings a whole different tune. Without the citrus liqueur, it has nowhere to hide, so the herbal, peppery notes of the agave come to the forefront, and the lemon turns out to be surprisingly friendlier than the lime — softer and more aromatic. A simple, honest cocktail that takes three minutes, often becoming a revelation for people convinced that 'tequila is not for me.'
Ingredients
- Tequila — 60 ml
- Lemon juice — juice of 1/2 lemon
- Powdered sugar — 5 ml
- Lemon — 1/2 slice (for garnish)
- Cherry — 1 piece
How to make
- In a shaker, mix the tequila, lemon juice, and powdered sugar.
- Add ice.
- Shake well.
- Strain into a sour glass.
- Garnish with a lemon half and a cherry.
- Serve immediately.
Tip: if you want a more interesting version — use reposado tequila: the barrel aging adds a warm vanilla note, and the cocktail will be closer to a whiskey sour while still retaining its tequila character. Egg white works great here too, same technique: dry shake, then ice.
7. Clover Club
Pink doesn’t mean frivolous. Clover Club is named after a Philadelphia club of journalists and lawyers, where it was enjoyed long before Prohibition, and structurally it’s a strict gin sour, with grenadine playing the sweet part, and the egg white bringing it all together into a silky pink foam. The taste is drier than the color suggests: juniper, lemon, pomegranate fruitiness — and no syrupy sticky trace. A cocktail with a century-old pedigree that still looks trendier than most new creations.
Ingredients
- Gin — 1 1/2 oz
- Grenadine — 2 tsp.
- Lemon juice — juice of 1/2 lemon
- Egg white — 1
How to make
- In a shaker, combine gin, grenadine, lemon juice, and egg white.
- Do a dry shake to emulsify the ingredients.
- Add ice.
- Shake well.
- Strain into a cocktail glass.
Tip: the whole character of the cocktail depends on the grenadine. Cheap 'red syrup' from the supermarket will give a candy flavor; look for grenadine made from pomegranate juice or make your own — reduce pomegranate juice with sugar one to one for ten minutes, and you'll have a month's supply ahead.
8. Aviation
A sour with the prettiest backstory: the recipe was published in 1916 by New York bartender Hugo Enslin — at the dawn of an era when aviators were rock stars. The cherry maraschino here plays the sweet part of the formula, and this is not the same cherry you find in a compote: the liqueur made from marasca cherries with pits gives a dry, slightly almondy, almost perfumey note. In the classic 1930 Savoy cocktail book, Aviation was printed just like this, without violet liqueur — our recipe follows that same path: gin, lemon, maraschino, and nothing extra.
Ingredients
- Gin — 4.5 cl
- Lemon juice — 1.5 cl
- Maraschino liqueur — 1.5 cl
How to prepare
- Add all the ingredients to a shaker.
- Fill the shaker with ice.
- Close and shake vigorously.
- Strain into a cocktail glass.
- Garnish with a cherry.
Tip: maraschino is a liqueur-spice: 1.5 cl is the dose, and 3 cl is already a death sentence for the cocktail. Measure with a jigger, not by eye. And put a real cocktail cherry in the glass — it’s not just decoration, but the final chord of that same cherry tone.
9. Bramble
London, the eighties: bartender Dick Bradsell, the father of the modern British cocktail school, builds a gin sour over crushed ice and pours blackberry liqueur on top. Bramble is a blackberry bush, and the best Bramble looks just like a berry in frost: purple streaks of liqueur drip through the crushed ice into the lemon-gin base. You’re supposed to drink it through a straw, from the bottom up — from sour to berry, and that’s the whole idea: the cocktail changes from the first sip to the last.
Ingredients
- Gin — 4 cl
- Lemon juice — 1.5 cl
- Sugar syrup — 1 cl
- Blackberry liqueur (crème de mûre) — 1.5 cl
How to make
- Fill a glass with crushed ice.
- Pour in gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup.
- Stir.
- Carefully pour the blackberry liqueur around the edge — it’ll create a marbled effect.
- Garnish with blackberries and a lemon wedge.
Tip: Crushed ice at home is just a bag of cubes, a towel, and a rolling pin: thirty seconds of effort. Pour the liqueur in at the very end and don’t stir — the marbled swirls are the signature look of a Bramble; if you stir, you’ll get a tasty but generic purple glass.
10. Penicillin
Proof that great sours didn’t end last century: Penicillin was created by bartender Sam Ross at the New York bar Milk & Honey in the mid-2000s, and in twenty years, the cocktail has become a modern classic known in bars from Tokyo to Tbilisi. The structure is three-tiered: a soft blended Scotch at the base, honey with ginger instead of simple syrup, and on top — a spoonful of smoky Islay whisky that rests on the foam with the aroma of a campfire. It smells of peat, drinks like honey — a 'medicine' that no one turns down.
Ingredients
- Blended Scotch — 60 ml (2 oz)
- Lemon juice — 22.5 ml (3/4 oz)
- Honey syrup — 10 ml (2 tsp)
- Ginger syrup — 10 ml (2 tsp)
- Smoky single malt Scotch (Islay) — 7 ml (1/4 oz)
How to make
- In a shaker, combine the blended Scotch, lemon juice, honey syrup, and ginger syrup with ice.
- Shake well.
- Strain into a chilled old-fashioned glass with large ice.
- Top with the smoky Scotch.
- Garnish with candied ginger.
Advice: honey in its pure form clumps up in a cold shaker — syrup is a must: honey plus hot water two to one, stir, cool down. Don’t mix in smoky Scotch: it should remain a film on top, so each sip starts with smoke and ends with honey.
Ten cocktails — but the formula is the same: strong, sour, sweet, honest shake. Start with a Whiskey Sour and Daiquiri — these are the ones to hone your skills and calibrate your taste. Then veer off: a Gimlet will show you how the formula sounds with gin, a Margarita with tequila, a Bramble will add berries, and a Penicillin will prove that even in this century, there’s still room for it. After that, you’ll start seeing sours everywhere — and you’ll be right to do so.
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