Sours
89 recipes, page 1 of 4
This Field Manual holds 89 recipes in the sour family, more than any other family here. A sour is a spirit, a citrus juice and a sweetener in balance. Change any one of the three and the drink takes a different name: a daiquiri, a margarita and a sidecar are all sours.
The ratio is where the disagreement is. Two parts spirit to one part citrus to one part sweetener is the usual starting point and it suits bourbon. Cut the sweetener and the citrus comes forward, which suits a lighter spirit. Add egg white and the texture changes rather than the flavour, which is why a whiskey sour and a Boston sour share a specification and taste different.
Base Spirit
Difficulty Level
20th Century
The 20th Century is named not for the era but for a train: the 20th Century Limited, the streamlined express that ran New York to Chicago in sixteen hours of art deco swagger, red
21st Century
The 21st Century is a deliberate act of succession: Jim Meehan built it at New York’s PDT in 2007 as the next stop after the 20th Century, updating the art deco classic for a new
Amaretto Sour
The Amaretto Sour has a reputation problem that is entirely the fault of the versions most people have encountered. The standard bar version, amaretto and sour mix from a gun or
Aperol Sour
The Aperol Sour is a sour with no spirit in it. Sixty millilitres of Aperol takes the base position, and the drink works because Aperol has enough flavour and enough sweetness of
Army & Navy
The Army & Navy is a gin sour with orgeat in place of the sugar. That is the entire design, and it does what the same swap does in a Mai Tai: almond brings marzipan weight and a
Autumn Gold
The Autumn Gold is a Field Manual serve written for October: bourbon and apple brandy splitting the base, fresh lemon and maple syrup running the sour arithmetic, and two dashes
Aviation
The Aviation is a gin sour with a sky in the glass. Hugo Ensslin published the original recipe in his 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks, the first known printed source: gin,
Bacardi Cocktail
The Bacardi Cocktail is a daiquiri with grenadine in it, and it is one of a very small number of drinks anywhere with legally enforceable contents. In 1936 the New York Supreme
Banana Calling
The Banana Calling is Dandelyan’s tribute act. Cameron Attfield built it on London’s South Bank in August 2018, during the bar’s final season as the world’s number one, as a house
Bee’s Knees
The Bee’s Knees is a gin sour built on honey syrup instead of sugar, documented in the early 1920s and born of a practical problem. Prohibition gin was frequently terrible, and
Berry Sour
The Berry Sour takes the bones of Dick Bradsell's legendary Bramble and gives it the full sour treatment. Bradsell created the Bramble in 1984 at Fred's Club in London's Soho,
Between the Sheets
Between the Sheets is the Sidecar after lights-out: the same cognac, orange liqueur and lemon, with a measure of white rum slipped in and the name doing the rest. It belongs to
Black Widow
The Black Widow is a dark house serve built for Halloween: three blackberries muddled in the shaker, then vodka, blackberry liqueur, fresh lemon and a short measure of simple
Blinker
The Blinker is rye, grapefruit juice and grenadine, and it is one of very few classic sours where grapefruit does the whole job on its own. Lemon is the default for a reason: it
Bramble
The Bramble was created by Dick Bradsell at Fred's Club in London in 1984, making it one of the few genuinely modern cocktails to hold a permanent place in the classical canon.
Brandy Crusta
The Brandy Crusta was created by Joseph Santini at his New Orleans bar around 1850 and is widely regarded as one of the first genuinely refined cocktails in American history. It
Brown Derby
The Brown Derby is 1930s Hollywood in three ingredients. It was created at the Vendôme Club on Sunset Boulevard, the film colony’s lunch canteen, and named in neighbourly tribute
Caipirinha
Brazil’s national cocktail and one of the most deceptively simple drinks in the world. Pronounced “kai-pee-REEN-ya”, the name is the diminutive of caipira, a term for the rural
Cameron’s Kick
Cameron’s Kick is a sour that should not work twice over. The base is split between Scotch and Irish whiskey, a pairing neither island has ever requested, and the sweetener is
Casino
The Casino belongs to the Aviation's family tree and arrives with a named author: Jacob A. Didier printed it in his 1909 The Reminder, Old Tom gin with maraschino, orange bitters
Charlie Chaplin
The Charlie Chaplin is equal parts sloe gin, apricot brandy and lime juice, shaken. There is no full-strength spirit in it at all: the base is two liqueurs, and the lime is the
Clover Club
The Clover Club was the house drink of a Philadelphia institution: a club of journalists, lawyers and industrialists who met at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel from the 1880s to
Corpse Reviver No. 2
The Corpse Reviver No. 2 appeared alongside its brandy sibling in Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, accompanied by his now-famous warning that four consumed in quick
Cosmonaut
The Cosmonaut is a gin sour sweetened with a spoonful of raspberry jam. Sasha Petraske built it at Milk & Honey in New York, and the name is a joke: the Eastern Bloc answer to the