Cocktail recipe
Amaretto Sour
Almond richness and fresh lemon sharpened by a small measure of bourbon.
Ingredients
- 45 ml (1½ oz) amaretto
- 22.5 ml (¾ oz) bourbon
- 30 ml (1 oz) fresh lemon juice
- 10 ml (⅓ oz) simple syrup (1:1)
- 15 ml (½ oz) pasteurized egg white, optional
- Garnish: 1 lemon wheel and 1 cocktail cherry
Preparation
If using pasteurized egg white, dry-shake all liquids first, then shake again with ice; otherwise shake once firmly with ice. Strain onto fresh cubes and finish with the lemon wheel and cherry.
Glassware
Rocks glass with fresh cubed ice
History
The Amaretto Sour rose with the spread of commercial amaretto in late-20th-century American bars. No reliably established individual inventor is known. Jeffrey Morgenthaler's modern adaptation, which includes bourbon and egg white, revived interest by giving the sweet almond liqueur more structure; this house version follows that general direction rather than claiming to reproduce a single historic original.
Mixology View
We deliberately identify this as a bourbon-strengthened house version. Lemon must be genuinely fresh, and the bourbon should provide backbone without turning it into a whiskey sour.