Bourbon, lemon, sugar, and optionally an egg white for the silk. The template every shaken sour is built on.
Whiskey Sour
Shaken
2 oz 60 ml Bourbon
¾ oz 22.5 ml Lemon juice · fresh
¾ oz 22.5 ml Simple syrup · 1:1
½ oz 15 ml Egg white · optional
Method If using egg white, dry-shake without ice for 10 seconds. Add ice and shake hard for 10–12 seconds. Strain over fresh ice, or double-strain into a coupe. Dot the foam with Angostura, or garnish with a lemon wheel and cherry.
Glass Rocks or coupe · Fresh cubes (if on the rocks)
Garnish Angostura drops on the foam, or a lemon wheel and cherry
Card updated September 7, 2026. Measures use 30 ml per ounce, the spec-sheet convention.
The spec
Two ounces of bourbon, three-quarters each of lemon and simple syrup, and half an ounce of egg white
if you want the foam. The 2 : ¾ : ¾ skeleton is the one to memorise, because it’s also the Gimlet,
the Bee’s Knees, and roughly every other sour.
Egg white, dry-shaken first. Shaking the egg white without ice first lets the protein foam
before dilution. Then add ice and shake again. Skip the egg and it’s a perfectly good drink; it just
won’t have the texture. A tablespoon of aquafaba does the same job without the egg.
Bourbon, mostly. Rye makes it sharper. A wheated bourbon makes it softer. The drink is forgiving
here in a way the Manhattan isn’t.
Where people disagree
Lemon vs. lemon-and-lime. Some house specs use half and half. It brightens the drink at the
cost of the classic flavour. If you try it, write it down as a separate line.
Sweetness. ¾ oz of 1:1 is standard. A lot of people drift to ½ oz once they’ve had a few, and
the drink gets better as the bourbon shows through. Test it; note it.
Rocks or up. On the rocks it’s a longer, colder, more casual drink. Up in a coupe with egg
white it’s the one that gets the bitters art on top. Both belong on the same card as a glass line.
Make it yours
Add ½ oz of red wine floated on top and it’s a New York Sour, which is the best-known variation and a
one-line change. Swap the simple syrup for honey syrup and you’re most of the way to a Gold Rush.
Swap the bourbon for amaretto and it’s a different drink and a different card.
The Whiskey Sour is the card most people end up making from memory, which is exactly how the
balance drifts over a year. Once a season, make one from the card instead and see whether you still
agree with it.