A sour is lemon, sugar and spirit in balance, and it is unusually revealing. There is nowhere for a rough whisky to hide behind the citrus, and a good one comes through the acid with its character intact rather than flattened by it.
Japanese single malts suit it particularly well. The orchard fruit and light floral notes that can feel understated when you drink them neat become the point of the drink once lemon is doing the heavy lifting.
How to make it
What you need
- 60 mlJapanese single malt whiskyA fruit-forward, lightly oaked malt. Heavy sherry works but reads much richer, and peat will bury the lemon.
- 30 mllemon juice, squeezed that day
- 20 mlsugar syrup, two parts sugar to one of water
- 2 dashesaromatic bitters
- 1lemon twist
2.0 standard drinks in total, 2.0 per serve, based on the recipe's alcohol strengths. Australian guidelines: no more than 10 a week, 4 on any day.
Method
- 01Chill the coupe.
- 02Combine the whisky, lemon, syrup and bitters with plenty of ice.
- 03Shake hard for twelve seconds.
- 04Double strain into the chilled coupe.
- 05Express the lemon twist over the surface.
What to make it with
Single malt bottles in stock today, cheapest first. Prices are checked daily, so this is what the drink actually costs to build right now.
Where it comes from
The sour predates Japanese whisky by a century, but it has become one of the more common ways bars there show off a malt, partly because it flatters a young spirit. A three or four year old craft malt that reads thin neat often makes a better sour than something twice its age.
Without the alcohol
Cold, strongly brewed roasted barley tea in place of the whisky, with the same lemon, syrup and bitters ratio, makes a genuinely good drink rather than a consolation.