The Most Stunning Cocktail We’ve Ever Shaken
We love sour cocktails—and we don’t just mean tart, boozy drinks. We mean cocktails that fall into the technical cocktail category of “sours”. The whiskey sour was long the most well-known sour cocktail, at least here in the U.S., and you’re surely a fan of margaritas and daiquiris, both of which are technically sour cocktails because they’re comprised of the classic sour cocktail ingredients:
- Base spirit. This can be whiskey, tequila, vodka, gin or any other boozy spirit.
- Citrus. The sour part! Often lime, but it can be lemon or even (like in this pisco sour recipe) grapefruit.
- Sweetener. It doesn’t have to be much, but a little something sweet will balance out the tartness of your citrus.
- Water. Not an absolute must, but a good idea. It can come in small doses—as it does in this drink—from ice melt that seeps into the cocktail during shaking.
- Egg white. Sour cocktails often have egg white, though not always. The egg white adds a creaminess as well as a very satisfying frothy cap to the finished cocktail.
We happen to think that it’s time for the pisco sour to ascend to a place of greater notoriety. It’s one of our very favorite cocktails—clean, refreshing and a bit floral thanks to the pisco base. This cocktail recipe is a bit of a riff on the classic pisco sour recipe—we’ve taken the traditional recipe and made it our own.
Wait—What Is Pisco?
Pisco is a clear brandy distilled from grapes. Versions of it hail from the winemaking regions of both Peru and Chile and it’s just DELICIOUS. Like any spirit, it’s a broad category and you’ll find a fair amount of variation between producers. For this cocktail, you don’t need to spend an arm and a leg—something around $25 will be just fine. If you’re finding yourself overwhelmed at the liquor store, the best thing to do is ask for help! Let a staff member know what you’re planning to make—this pisco sour recipe, namely—and ask if they can guide you to a bottle of pisco that would work well in the drink. They’re usually happy to help!
Pisco Sour Ingredients
OK, so, here’s where we are taking a path of our own with this delicious sour cocktail. You know that the base spirit is pisco, but what else is in this drink? Our pisco sour is made up of:
- Citrus: classically, pisco sour would be made with lime juice, but we’ve swapped that for the blushing pink, bitter-bite of grapefruit juice.
- Egg white: yep! We’re including it. The risk of salmonella is very minimal—most chickens are vaccinated against salmonella, so any risk of getting it mostly comes from the egg shall, not what's inside. So, the key is to wash your egg thoroughly before cracking it. Then, you should be good! That said, if it freaks you out, skip it. Your drink will be a little different, but the flavors will still be terrific.
- The sweetener: nothing but the classic! Just regular old simple syrup. See below for how to make it, or you can also buy it.
- Water: comes from ice! The drink will get a nice little dilution—this is a good thing—from shaking it, so you’re good.
How To Make A Pisco Sour
Grab your shaker, and let’s make a pisco sour!
- Make simple syrup—it’s just sugar and water in a 1:1 ratio, simmered until the sugar dissolves. See? Simple.
- Separate your egg white from the yolk.
- Put some ice into a cocktail shaker.
- Pour in all of the ingredients, except the orange bitters.
- Shake vigorously! About 30 seconds.
- Strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a few dashes of bitters. They’ll look really lovely atop that fluffy egg white foam.
- Sip!
Tools You’ll Need:
- Cocktail shaker.
- Cocktail glass. Any kind you love—a coupe is always nice.
- Strainer.
Cocktail Hour!
DIY cocktails are really pretty easy to get the hang of—dangerously easy, one could argue! Here are a few cocktail recipes we love make in the summer months:
Cheers to Summer!
Whether you sip this all day long as you lounge by the pool or sneak one in as the sun sinks below the horizon after a multi-hour bedtime slog, we hop it cures what ails you! Let us know how you love it! Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper. Happy sipping!
