Equinox Cocktails - The Sours Edition

Since I had so much fun recipe testing the equal parts gin cocktail recipes from Shake. Stir. Sip. by Kara Newman, I decided that I would try some more recipes from the book. This time, rather than focus on a single base spirit, I decided to focus on a family of cocktails: the sours.

According to the book, a sour is traditionally one part sour, one part sweet, and two parts spirit. Our family recipes for the Amaretto Sour and the Whiskey Sour use completely different ratios, but we aren’t bartending professionals.

Simple Syrup

The majority of the sour recipes in the book relied on simple syrup as their sweetener of choice. So I decided to mix up a batch in advance of my recipe testing to have it ready to measure out in smaller portions when the need arose. I have made simple syrup so often for my limoncello and other liqueurs that I did not even need to consult the book on how to make it: it is basically one cup of granulated white sugar and one cup of water boiled together until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is clear. I usually give it five to ten minutes beyond that just to thicken slightly, but not much longer. This time I made a double batch and stored it in a flip top bottle so that I would have some to sweeten my evening coffee.

Daiquiri

According to the book, a daiquiri is a sour made with lime juice, simple syrup, and white rum. This is roughly the same recipe as on the Bacardi website, with a little more sweetener than recommended by Bacardi. Don Q’s Daiquiri No. 3 has the same ingredients in completely different proportions, plus two additional fancy ingredients. I just stuck with the simplest recipe offered by the book. The only challenge was that I ran out of lime juice, so I had to top off that part with lemon juice rather than leave the sour part of the cocktail out of balance. And of course, I didn’t have any ice to shake it with nor a coupe glass to serve it in.

My warm daiquiri in a martini glass was lovely. It seemed to have the perfect balance of sweet and sour. The white rum was imperceptible, which was a good thing because I am not a real fan of strong rum drinks (except maybe a good Dark and Stormy while on the Island). This is definitely a summer drink, but was so good that I would repeat it in the future. I’m not quite sure how I would turn it into a fruity daiquiri because it was so perfectly balanced, but that is something I would have to research and experiment with when the time comes.

Margarita

According to the book, a magarita is a sour made with lime juice, agave nectar, orange liqueur, and blanco tequila. The “basic margarita” recipe in our family cookbook (and who remembers where that came from!) is three parts tequila, two parts lime juice, and one part triple sec. A quick search of my favorite drinks website for “margarita” came back with so many different hits that I couldn’t sort through them all! But since I had bought some more lime juice (fancy organic stuff at Whole Foods this time!) and I actually had agave nectar in the cabinet from some previous recipe testing experiments, I decided to try out the book’s recipe. Of course, with the usual exception of shaking it without ice and serving it in a martini glass. Except this time I just didn’t read the directions that it was supposed to be served in a rocks glass; I have a nice one of those.

My margarita was definitely sour, even though I shook it really thoroughly to combine the agave nectar at the bottom of the shaker. It could have been that the fresh organic (not from concentrate) lime juice was just very strong, and that threw the cocktail out of balance. On the positive side, the sourness of the lime juice masked the cut rate blanco tequila that I pulled from the back of my cabinet, which I am normally not a fan of. But overall, I did not find the drink to be all that pleasant. I tend to like my margaritas sweet.

So, I tinkered with the recipe a little. Rather than splitting the one part sweet between the agave nectar and the orange liqueur, I used one full part of agave nectar and one half part of orange liqueur. I ran slightly short on the blanco tequila this time around, but not by enough to warrant opening a new bottle. It was so much better this way! The sweet element was balanced with the sour element, rather than overwhelmed by it. The tequila was still imperceptible, which was a good thing. I would definitely make another margarita this way.

Sidecar

According to the book, a sidecar is a sour made with lemon juice, simple syrup, orange liqueur, and brandy. Again, a search of my favorite drinks website turned up about 65 results, some of which were duplicates. It had sidecars made with cognac, Scotch, brandy, Grand Marnier, bourbon, and even gin. Yet again, I stuck with the recipe in the book, especially since I had never had a sidecar and had no expectations of what it should be. I did find some ice in my freezer after doing some cleaning earlier in the afternoon, so I was able to shake the cocktail with ice. However, I strained it into a martini glass instead of a coupe glass and I skipped the orange twist garnish.

Not recalling how I felt about brandy, I was surprised that I found the sidecar to be rather pleasant. Being chilled definitely helped it some, as that seemed to mellow out the sharper edges of the lemon and brandy flavors. Even though the lemon was just one quarter of the cocktail, it undoubtedly stood out. Of course, the lemon juice stood out even more once I started eating some sweeter homemade Macoun applesauce. What I think would have been perfect with this cocktail would have been a Luxardo Maraschino cherry at the bottom.

Whiskey Sour

According to the book, whiskey sour is a sour made with lemon juice, simple syrup, and bourbon. Our family recipe for the whiskey sour relies on frozen lemonade concentrate, water, and whiskey to make a pitcher of whiskey sours. The Jerry Thomas recipe uses rye whiskey, lemon juice, and powdered white sugar, which was way too tart for me when I tested it as part of my review of that advance reader copy. The recipe on my favorite drinks website used bourbon or rye, simple syrup, and lemon juice, but the parts of simple syrup and lemon juice were a little less than one part to the two parts of the liquor, making for a stronger cocktail than recommended in the book. Since the book’s recipes had been decent so far (except for the overly sour margarita), I decided to stick with that recipe. I even shook it with ice and strained it over fresh ice. However, I did skip the orange slice garnish, and garnished with two maraschino cherries instead of the recommended one brandy cherry.

My whiskey sour definitely tasted like bourbon, but that is because the only bourbon I have is Buffalo Trace. That has a very distinctive taste to it. Overall, the cocktail seemed fairly well balanced between the sweet and the sour. I could easily see myself making another whiskey sour again using this recipe.

I had also bought a can of frozen lemonade concentrate to try out the family recipe for a pitcher of whiskey sours, but I didn’t have enough bourbon left in the bottle to fill the lemonade can. Instead of entirely foregoing the experiment, I extrapolated what a single serving of the recipe would contain: two ounces of lemonade concentrate, two ounces of bourbon, and two ounces of water. I put that in my cocktail shaker, and shook vigorously until the lemonade concentrate dissolved. Then I poured it into my rocks glass and garnished with a maraschino cherry – because I (really) like maraschino cherries.

The family recipe had a little bit more sour tang to it than the equinox cocktail book recipe. That could be because the lemonade concentrate is supposed to be reconstituted with more than twice as much water as the liquid used in the whiskey sour recipe (the can recommends mixing with 4 1/3 cans of water to properly reconstitute). But, in general, I think this was the better whiskey sour because the bourbon taste was more muted.

The Verdict

The family of sours – the daiquiri, the margarita, the sidecar, and the whiskey sour – were very easy to make from fairly readily available ingredients. With the exception of the margarita, which I had to tinker with a little, the formula used in the book resulted in a relatively well-balanced cocktail that I would make again.

Please note that I did not attempt all these cocktails in one evening, nor did I attempt them all in consecutive evenings. With two ounces of base spirit each, either course of action pretty much would have resulted in disaster.


The Recipes

My Tinkered Margarita

2 oz blanco tequila
1 oz lime juice (not from concentrate)
1 oz agave nectar
½ oz Grand Marnier

1. Shake well in a cocktail shaker (with ice if desired).
2. Strain into a clean glass.

Whiskey Sour
If this is too strong, serve it over ice.

1 can frozen lemonade
1 can whiskey
1 can water

1. Mix in a pitcher
2. Drink the glass of your choice.

Amaretto Sour

2 parts lime juice
3 parts amaretto

1. Layer lime juice and amaretto over ice in a short glass.
2. Stir before drinking, only if desired.