How to Make the Best Whiskey Sour (2 ways!)

Welcome back. Today we are making the Whiskey Sour, one of the oldest cocktails in the world. It dates back to the 1860s, so it's pretty old. It's also very straightforward. When you order a Whiskey Sour, you are gonna get a whiskey-based cocktail that is sour. At the bar, I add a little bit of egg white, which is common to do. Some people call that a Boston Sour, but to me, that's just a Whiskey Sour. And what that does is it gives it a silky texture and it really rounds out the sharp, acidic notes of the lemon juice. However, if you have an allergy or you don't do eggs, I'm gonna show you a great alternative, which uses aquafaba. Aquafaba, if you're not familiar, is chickpea juice. Chickpea water. What's so great about chickpea water or aquafaba is it lends a similar quality to the cocktail as egg white. So I'm gonna show you both. So egg or no egg, it's up to you. Also, if this is your first time to the channel, welcome. Do hit that subscribe button if you want more sips, tips, and recipes. Just saying. Okay, yeah. All right, we are shaking two cocktails. So I've got two Boston shakers, my jigger, Hawthorne strainer, fine mesh strainer, and I also have a vegetable peeler because I'm going to express some lemon oil on top of the cocktail. Also, at this time, get your glassware chilling. I've got my two glasses chilling that I am going to push off to the side because they're fragile and I don't trust myself. Now, the booze. For this cocktail, you will need bourbon, fresh lemon juice, a rich Demerara syrup. What else? Oh, an egg or aquafaba, and bitters. The bitters is just for a garnish. Traditionally, it would be a slice of orange and a cherry, but I'm just gonna do a few drops of bitters on top. I think it's really nice. The bourbon I'm using is Buffalo Trace and the bitters is Angostura aromatic bitters. As far as the bourbon, it's a whiskey sour, so you can use any whiskey you want. If you are a fan of Canadian whiskey, Irish whiskey, rye whiskey, they're all gonna be good. I just always associate bourbon with a whiskey sour. When working with raw eggs, as a disclaimer, there is a small chance of salmonella, so know the source and use quality eggs, clean, good eggs, and keep them in the fridge. As for the aquafaba, so it's already in this can. You just have to strain off the garbanzo beans and make hummus. The chickpea water itself, the aquafaba, will last two to three days in the refrigerator. After that, get rid of it. Did I confuse everybody? Is everybody confused? Good, okay. When working with an egg, I always add the egg white first because if you separate the egg and get some shell or some yolk in there, you can dump it out and you are just short an egg as opposed to an entire cocktail you're dumping out. Depending on the size of your egg, however, it will vary how much egg white you have. Typically, it's around an ounce of egg white, which is enough for two cocktails. If you wanted to add the whole egg white into your cocktail, that's fine. It's just gonna make it frothier and foamy, but you really only need half an ounce. I've already measured out half an ounce from another egg that I will use in this cocktail. No egg cracking on camera because I'll screw it up. Enough of that, let's build. So for this recipe, we will want half an ounce of egg white, one and a half ounces of bourbon, three quarters of an ounce of lemon juice, half an ounce of your rich Demerara syrup, and that's it. Now we can go ahead and make the other one. We're gonna do half an ounce of aquafaba to replace the egg white, one and a half ounces of bourbon, three quarters of an ounce of lemon juice, and half an ounce of your rich Demerara syrup. Good, good. Now, before we add ice and shake, we're gonna do what's called a dry shake, where we shake the cocktail, and what it does is it rips apart the proteins in the egg white and the aquafaba, and it just makes it easier for the other ingredients to be incorporated in the cocktail. It also will just make it foamier and fluffier and better. Few seconds dry shaking is all you need. Oh, be sure you've got a good seal. This is one of the problems, problems with being a bartender. Now we can add ice and shake. As you shake these, the egg white is gonna wanna expand, so you're gonna feel pressure wanting to break the seal. So make sure, if you're using a tin-on-tin Boston shaker like I am, really get it in there, and then shake away. They're lively. Can you hear that? Putting it up on the mic. That's everything wanting to escape. Be strong, be strong. Double strain into the cocktail glass. There's our aquafaba and the egg white. Now I usually like to let the foam settle, so I'll let it sit for just a moment, and the foam will thicken up on top of the cocktail. Gives me time to get my lemon zest. There you go. A lot of people won't add the lemon zest because there's a fair amount of lemon juice in the cocktail already. The oil of the lemon will actually kill some of the larger bubbles that are on top, so it makes it smoother looking, and then you get a bright lemon on the nose too. Garnish. I've got my bitters that I've put in a dropper bottle just for control. I'm just gonna do three little drops on top for both of them. And then just a little pick. I'm gonna make a pretty design of hearts because I love whiskey sours. There they are. Two whiskey sours. Two ways. I will say, looking at it right now, the aquafaba is quite a bit darker. I don't know if it shows up on the camera. The foam is also different. They both have the foam on top. The aquafaba looks thicker. I'm excited. This'll be good. I'm gonna start with the egg white, the Boston sour, if you will. I will. Mm, it's really good. Silky texture. Now the aquafaba. So, side by side, I will say the egg white cocktail is a little bit more custardy. It's a little richer, but very good. And the aquafaba, also very good. It's a little bit cleaner and brighter, whereas the egg white, you know there's egg white. Aquafaba is a little bit more neutral. Definitely adds a silky texture. They're both outstanding. Asya, you wanna try one of these? Sure. Aquafaba. Yeah, the egg white, to me, is almost like a dessert cocktail. It's like, this would be in a pie or something. This is delicious. Yeah, the aquafaba is a perfect substitution for the egg white, as far as texture. And I like it with a little bit of bitters on top. So, every once in a while, you get a little bit of the bitters. It's nice. It breaks it up. Different, but not enough to where one isn't a whiskey sour. They're both delicious whiskey sours. Now you've got a variation. If you are making whiskey sours at home and you wanna impress people with an egg white cocktail, or people that maybe have an allergy or don't want egg white, every time you open a can of chickpeas, you strain off the aquafaba. Might as well use it in a cocktail. So, that's it. The whiskey sour. Try either one of these or both of them, and I think you're gonna be very happy. Thank you for watching. If you like this video, like and subscribe. Hit that notification bell if you wanna be notified the next time a video comes out. And I will see you next time. Cheers.