Whiskey sour

The whiskey sour is a mixed drink containing whiskey (often Bourbon), lemon juice, sugar, and optionally, a dash of egg white. With the egg white, it is sometimes called a Boston Sour. For those who do not like or cannot have egg white (e.g., due to religious concerns or allergy to eggs), pineapple juice is used as a substitute. It is shaken and served either straight up or over ice.

The traditional garnish is half an orange slice and a maraschino cherry.

A variant of the whiskey sour is the Ward 8, which often is based either in Bourbon or rye whiskey, with both lemon and orange juices, and grenadine syrup as the sweetener. The egg white sometimes employed in other whiskey sours is generally not included in this variation.

History

The oldest historical mention of a whiskey sour was published in the Wisconsin newspaper, Waukesha Plain Dealer, in 1870.

In 1962, the Universidad del Cuyo published a story, citing the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio de Iquique, which indicated that Elliott Stubb created the "whisky sour" in 1872. (El Comercio de Iquique was published by Modesto Molina between 1874 and 1879.)