Monday, June 8, 2015

A Real Whisky Sour

I've made drinks that were adaptations of the whisky sour, but after I read the description of the drink in How to Drink, I decided I needed to make the full, real, version. The one thing I've always left of out my versions was the egg white.

Not that I have issues with eggs, but separating an egg just to get a tablespoon of white seemed like more trouble that it was worth.

But this time, I decided to go ahead with all of it. The recipe description talked about how great the drink was with Scotch, so I decided to use that. And I pulled out a brand new shaker that I won from a blog event.

The shaker is a sweet thing made by WMF. A really nice shaker that someone who knows what they're doing would use. Using it for the first time for a classic drink made sense.

So ... that egg white. It didn't add any flavor at all to the drink, but it made a nice froth on top of the drink and gave the drink some body - instead of it being a thin, water-like drink, it felt thicker.

I don't know if I'll always add egg whites to my drinks - because it leaves me with a partial egg that needs to be used for something where the egg doesn't need to be all there.

On the other hand, I liked the body that it added to the drink. I'm thinking that the smart thing to do would be to buy one of those cartons of egg whites and use that. I could portion it and freeze it for drinks and have it ready when I need it. We'll see.

Meanwhile, I was pretty happy with this whisky sour. It was nicely tart but not too puckery, and the Scotch was lovely. Give it a try!

Whisky Sour
Adapted from How to Drink by Victoria Moore

Boston Shaker by WMF
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons simple syrup*
1 1/2 ounces Johnny Walker Black Scotch Whisky
1 tablespoon egg white

Put everything into a strainer and shake vigorously until the outside of the shaker is frosty cold on the outside. This isn't a timid shake. Shake like you're serious.

Add fresh ice to a glass and strain the cocktail into the glass.

Note that straining doesn't mean you're using a fine-mesh strainer to eliminate bits of stuff - you just want to leave the ice cubes behind and get all the liquid and all of the froth into the glass.

Serve immediately.

*If you're going to be making your own cocktails a lot, I suggest making simple syrup and keeping it handy. All you need to do is combine equal volumes of water and sugar - I usually do a cup of each - in a small saucepan. Heat and stir until all the sugar melts. Let it cool and store it in a bottle or jar.
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