Amaretto sour
Amaretto and lemon juice, shaken with egg white. Sweet almond with a clean sour edge.
- Time
- 5 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Glass
- Rocks glass
- Strength
- 1.4 UK units
How to make an amaretto sour
- Shake without ice. Add the amaretto, lemon juice and egg white to a shaker with no ice. Shake hard for 10 seconds, until the tin feels lively and the liquid sounds thick.
- Shake with ice. Fill the shaker with ice and shake again for 12 seconds, until the tin is cold enough to sting your hand.
- Strain over fresh ice. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. You should see a pale, foamy cap about a finger deep.
- Finish. Add two dashes of bitters on the foam if you like, then drop in a cherry and squeeze an orange peel over the top.
- Glass
- Rocks glassNo rocks glass? Any short tumbler.
- Ice
- Ice cubes
- Garnish
- Cocktail cherry and a strip of orange peelOr: A lemon wedge.
What you need to make an amaretto sour
Kit
JiggerA double-ended measure, usually 25 ml and 50 ml.
Cocktail shakerA two-piece Boston tin is the easiest to use and clean.
StrainerA Hawthorne strainer fits over the tin or glass.
Citrus squeezerFresh juice makes the biggest difference of anything.
Bottles we'd use
- AmarettoDisaronno is the one most bars use. Lazzaroni is slightly drier and more almond-forward.Find it on Amazon
- Bourbon, for a splashA 15 ml measure of a bourbon like Buffalo Trace dries the drink out.Find it on Amazon
Links to Amazon are affiliate links: if you buy through them, Bar Bandol may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
The amaretto sour story
Nobody has a reliable record of who first mixed amaretto with sour mix, and the claims disagree. What is clear is that it became a bar staple in the 1970s, mostly in a sweet, bottled-mix form that gave the drink a poor name.
Made with fresh lemon juice it is a different drink. Amaretto is already sweet, so the lemon has to do real work, and egg white gives it a silky body. Add a splash of bourbon if you want a drier finish.
Amaretto sour: your questions answered
What is in an amaretto sour?
An amaretto sour is made with 50 ml amaretto and 25 ml fresh lemon juice. Garnish: cocktail cherry and a strip of orange peel.
Is an amaretto sour shaken or stirred?
An amaretto sour is shaken, not stirred. Shaking hard with ice chills it quickly and helps mix the juice in properly, which stirring cannot do. Shake until the outside of the shaker feels very cold.
How strong is an amaretto sour?
Made to this recipe, an amaretto sour contains about 1.4 UK units of alcohol per drink. That is worked out from typical bottle strengths, so it changes with the bottles you use. UK guidelines advise not regularly drinking more than 14 units a week.
What glass do you serve an amaretto sour in?
Serve an amaretto sour in a rocks glass over ice. No rocks glass? Any short tumbler.
