New York Sour Cocktail Recipe & History
How to make a New York Sour cocktail and the history behind this bourbon based sour concoction made with a red wine layer floating on top.
If you love the classic whisky Sour Cocktail then you’re going to love this classic twist. Its smooth, complex, offers a range of flavour with a citrus bite and not to mention easy to make.
Recently the New York sour has been making its rounds and growing in popularity. Especially over on Instagram. It’s not hard to see why. The New York sour is a layered cocktail. And everyone loves a good layered cocktail. They are fun to make and look amazing in photos - perfect for Instagram. This cocktails Instagramability is of the chart.
Not to mention that despite their impressive look, they are pretty easy to execute and leave Plenty of room for creativity. As we are seeing today, with New York Sours served in everything from champagne flutes to rocks glasses and executed from the very basic shake and layer to the more complex milk washing and clarification.
New York Sour Cocktail History
It’s easy to believe that this is a modern classic. Something that has recently been created and is taking off. Seems as before the last few months, none of us had seemed to of even heard of the New York sour, never mind made one! It’s so simply, you take a whiskey sour and give it a red wine float… Why has no one thought of this before!
The truth is they have. The New York sour has been around longer than any living human. It’s thought that this cocktail was created around the 1870s/1890s. However, it's difficult to pinpoint an exact time or place when this cocktail was first created. As there seems to be a lot of variations with the name, including the Continental Sour and Southern Whisky Sour.
During this time sours was at an all time height of popularity especially in America. And with bourbon being the choice of American drinkers, you better bet there was a load of bourbon and lemon sour cocktails going around.
It’s most likely not from New York at all, and that was just the name that decided to stick more than any others. Most of the evidence points to it actually being created in Chicago in the 1880s. What most likely happen is that the cocktail did its rounds before being served up in Manhattan. Where the name was likely changed to the New York Sour and history was made.
However, this cocktail has gone pretty much under the radar, being outshined by the classic whisky sour, old fashioned’s and Manhattans. It wasn’t until this year that Instagram gave a new light to this cocktail which is now growing a spotlight of its own.
New York Sour Cocktail Ingredients
50ml Bourbon or Rye Whisky
25ml Lemon Juice
12.5ml Sugar Syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 Egg white
20ml Red wine
Easy tips on getting the perfect red wine layer
If your glass is filled with ice which it should be, then you should have ice poking out above the liquid. Slowly pour your red wine onto one of the ice cubes and it will slowly and evenly spread across the top of the cocktail.
Or, use a back of a spoon. Lay a spoon backwards just above the liquid and pour your red wine directly onto the back of the spoon like the above photo. The spoon will help evenly dispense the red wine making for the perfect layer.
New York Sour Recipe
New York Sour
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a cocktail shaker, mix everything other than the red wine and dry shake (meaning shaker without ice).
- Once nice and frothy add cubed ice to the shaker and shake again, vigorously.
- Strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh cubed ice.
- Layer the red wine on top
Notes
Pour the red wine slowly over the back of a spoon for the perfect layer.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
215.87Fat
0.11 gSat. Fat
0.01 gCarbs
16.06 gFiber
0.08 gNet carbs
15.98 gSugar
14.2 gProtein
3.37 gSodium
61.2 mgCholesterol
0 mgThe nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
