Amaretto Sour

Almond liqueur shaken with fresh lemon juice: sweet, tart and nutty, with a silky foam when egg white is added.

11.9% ABV
Shaken
3 min
Rocks glass
sweet
sour
rich

about 0.7 standard drinks (US, 14 g of alcohol). Estimated after dilution with ice.

Ingredients

1½ ozAmarettoItalian liqueur flavored with almonds or apricot kernels. It is already sweet, hence the small amount of syrup.
1 ozFresh lemon juice
¼ ozSimple syrup
½ ozEgg white (optional)Optional. About half of a medium egg white; it adds foam and a silky texture without changing the flavor.

Ice: Ice cubes · Garnish: orange, cocktail cherry

Method

Fill a rocks glass with ice cubes to chill it while you mix the drink.
If using egg white, pour 45 ml amaretto, 30 ml fresh lemon juice, 10 ml simple syrup and 15 ml egg white into a shaker and shake hard for 10 seconds without ice.
Add ice cubes to the shaker (or, without egg white, add all the liquids and ice at once) and shake again for 10 to 12 seconds.
Discard the ice from the glass, add fresh ice cubes, and strain the drink over them.
Garnish with an orange slice and a cocktail cherry.

Tips

Use freshly squeezed lemon juice. Bottled sour mix makes the drink flat and overly sweet.
Shaking once without ice (a dry shake) before shaking with ice gives the egg white a thicker, more even foam.
For a drier version, use 30 ml amaretto and 15 ml bourbon, and keep the other quantities the same.

Swaps

Missing something? These swaps change the taste a little but keep the drink balanced.

Simple syrup → Cane sugar syrup

History

The origin of the Amaretto Sour is unclear and no single inventor is firmly established. The drink became popular in the United States in the 1970s, when amaretto, an Italian almond-flavored liqueur, was widely available there. Modern bartenders often rebalance it with more lemon juice and a foam of egg white.