Sour Cocktails
Explore 43 Sour cocktail recipes.
Sour cocktails run on a three-part formula that's older than most cocktail traditions — spirit, citrus, sweetener, in proportions that pull against each other rather than line up. The Amaretto Sour is the friendliest doorway in: almond liqueur softens the citrus, lemon and an egg-white shake build the texture, and you end up with something halfway between an aperitif and a dessert. The Boston Sour is a Whisky Sour with the egg white added, which turns the head into a velvet layer and gives the drink some body.
The Whiskey Collins stretches the same sour idea long with soda; the Closing Argument and Cosmonaut both lean into more aromatic spirits over the same base. The pattern across the list is that the sweetener is doing structural work as much as taste work — it pulls the citrus into a register the spirit can sit in, and the spirit pulls the citrus back from being purely tart. Most are shaken, most run quick, most reward a fresher lemon or lime than the supermarket variety.
Egg white in a sour is optional but almost always rewarded — a properly dry-shaken sour ends up with a half-inch of foam at the top that smells different from the body of the drink and changes how the first sip lands.
Our top Sour cocktail
Green Tea
Whiskey, Peach schnapps, Lemon-lime soda, Sour mix
Top Sour cocktails
Chambord Vodka Sour
Vodka, Raspberry liqueur, Soda water, Lemon juice, Egg
Amaretto Sour
Amaretto, Lemon juice, Aromatic bitters, Egg
The Emerson
Gin, Maraschino cherry liqueur, Red vermouth, Lime juice
Jeffrey Morgenthaler Amaretto Sour
Bourbon, Amaretto, Sugar / simple syrup, Lemon juice, Egg
Dolcevita
Whiskey, Rhubarb liqueur, Amaretto, Agave syrup, Pineapple juice, Lemon juice
Pineapple Tequila Sour
Tequila añejo, Lime juice, Pineapple juice, Banana
Vanilla vodka sour
Vanilla vodka, Vanilla liqueur, Lemon juice, Egg
Kamikaze Shot
Vodka, Triple sec, Lime juice