Amaretto Sour
A creamy, tart sour where amaretto’s almond sweetness meets bourbon’s bite beneath a silky egg-white foam.
Ingredients
- Bourbon, preferably cask strength for extra depth22.5 ml
- Amaretto45 ml
- Lemon juice, freshly squeezed30 ml
- Rich simple syrup, rich syrup, 2:1 sugar to water (2 parts Sugar, 1 part Water)5 ml
- Egg white15 ml
- Lemon, for garnish (optional)1 twist
- Cocktail cherry, for garnish, preferably on a pick (optional)1 whole
Method
- Pour the bourbon, amaretto, lemon juice, rich syrup and egg white into a shaker.
- Dry-shake hard for 10–15 seconds without ice, so the egg white emulsifies and forms a foam.
- Add ice and shake again for 10–15 seconds, until the drink is ice-cold.
- Double-strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice.
- Garnish with a lemon twist and a cocktail cherry on a pick.
Credit Jeffrey Morgenthaler
About this drink
The classic Amaretto Sour of the 1970s was often a sweet affair made with bottled sour mix. Bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler reinvented it for modern cocktail drinkers by adding fresh lemon, a touch of bourbon and egg white, giving the sweetness some counterpoint and the texture a silken finish. Today, his version is considered the standard by bartenders worldwide.
Questions and answers
Why should you dry-shake an Amaretto Sour?
A dry shake, meaning shaking without ice, whips the egg white into a stable foam before the cold from the ice makes the proteins set too quickly. Skip the step and you will get a thin, uneven cap instead of a dense, creamy finish.
Can you make an Amaretto Sour without egg white?
Certainly — leave out the egg white and shake the rest as usual. You lose the soft foam, but the almond and bourbon flavours still come through clearly; aquafaba from a tin of chickpeas is a good vegan substitute if you want to keep the texture.
