Sours Explained: History, Egg Whites, and an Amaretto Sour Recipe

In this Banterists cocktail segment,  Kev explores sour cocktails—drinks balancing spirit, acidity, and sweetness with acidity taking center stage—linking them to punches and tracing origins to British naval voyages where rum was mixed with lime or lemon to prevent scurvy, creating “grog.” The first menu-listed sour appeared in Toronto in 1856, and by 1860 sours were widely documented, with the whiskey sour becoming dominant in North America using bourbon or rye. The episode discusses egg white in Jerry Thomas’s 1862 recipe, shaking methods, and aquafaba as a vegan alternative. Kev then explains amaretto’s origins and production (almonds/apricot kernels, spices, aging) and demonstrates an Amaretto Sour with amaretto, lemon juice, a reduced amount of sugar syrup, optional bitters, egg white or aquafaba, shaken with ice and strained into a coupe, listening to Jessie Ware singing Remember Where You Are on top of the Dolomites; and a tease for vodka cocktails next time.

Kocktail Kev Music is called Velvet shadows full version by Kaazoom on Pixabay

The Banterists music is called  ‘The best jazz club in New Orleans’

Music by Paolo Argento from Pixabay