Sour Puss

I've been making sours off and on over the weekend. Amaretto sours used to be one of my standbys when I ordered something out, but I'd like to think I've outgrown them this year.

My first sour from my calendar for Friday was a straightforward whiskey sour (which I think has been featured before this year, but I'm feeling too lazy to go back through 200 days worth and check): whiskey (I used Jim Beam black), lemon juice, and simple syrup. Good: your usual whiskey sour without relying on sweet and sour mix.

CocktailDB.com has lots of great sour recipes; my next one came from there, a New York sour: pretty similar to a whiskey sour but a lot more lemon: Beam black again, lemon juice, and sugar. I misread the recipe and put in 1 1/2 oz of sugar instead of 1 1/2 tsp; hey, only 5 times too much. This drink tasted like a bourbon-spiked sweet and sour. Not that there's anything wrong with spiked lemonade.

Yesterday, as I reported, was spent on sangria and syrah as a chaser (and a very stiff gin and tonic when the neighbors got rowdy and I had to call twice). Today I started with a gin sour. Being a naive good (former) Baptist lad, I didn't know such a drink existed. I finished up my bottle of Plymouth, with lemon juice and sugar. It was OK; I wasn't overwhelmed. I'm not going to try the rum sours because they look like a daiquiri masquerading under another name.

Then there was the Ward 8, a sour under another name. Rye (Jim Beam), lemon juice, triple sec (the recipe called for OJ, which I'm out of), and grenadine. Grenadine is an interesting touch: the sweetness but with flavor too. Rye isn't my favorite liquor, I must admit, so this cocktail will never make my top 10 list, but it's drinkable. I bet with some bitters it could be really good.