Amaretto Sour

Difford's Guide
Discerning Drinkers (299 ratings)

Serve in an

Old-fashioned glass

Photographed in an

UB Grantown Tumbler 12oz

Garnish:

Spray aromatic bitters over foaming cocktail from atomiser and then garnish with lemon & cherry sail (lemon slice & Luxardo Maraschino cherry on stick)

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice and strain back into shaker. DRY SHAKE (without ice) and fine strain into ice-filled glass.

2 fl oz Disaronno amaretto
1 fl oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
1 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters
1/2 fl oz Pasteurised egg white or Aquafaba (chickpea water) or 3 dashes Fee Brothers Fee Foam cocktail foamer
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Difford’s Guide to Cocktails Book 17th Edition

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Easy Jigger

The Easy Jigger® is a measure designed for use when making cocktails, primarily in the home but also by professional bartenders. It has a unique design

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Hazardous ingredients

Pasteurised egg white is potentially hazardous to those with allergy or intolerance.

Review:

Sweet 'n' sour - frothy with an almond buzz. An extra couple of dashes of bitters help balance the drink and add an extra burst of flavour. When made with freshly squeezed lemon juice this can be a great cocktail.

Variant:

Morgenthaler's Amaretto Sour with bourbon.

History:

Notably absent from 1970s encyclopaedia-style books listing pretty much all known cocktails of the day, including the comprehensive Stanley M. Jones' 1977 Jones' Complete Barguide, the Amaretto Sour is a cocktail of the 1980s, when it starts to appear in books such as Mark Torre's 1987 The Bartender's Cherry. (It may well also be in the 1984 first edition but sadly I don't own a copy.)

Amaretto Sour
1 shot Amaretto Di Saronno® /Amaretto
½ splash Orange Juice
Fill with Sour Mix
Shake
Orange Flag Garnish
Sour/Highball Glass
V/O: without Orange Juice

Mark Torre, 1987

The Amaretto Sour is thought to have been created in 1974 at the behest of the US importer of the brand then named "Amaretto di Saronno." Originally two parts amaretto liqueur to one part lemon juice, but (as the recipe in Jones' Complete Barguide illustrates) by the time it became popular in the 1980s the trend to use commercial sour-mix in place of fresh lemon juice had also taken its toll on the Amaretto Sour.

Hence, during the 1990-2000s cocktail renaissance, the Amaretto Sour was considered a "Disco Drink", only to be rescued by Jeffrey Morgenthaler in 2012 with the addition of bourbon: Morgenthaler's Amaretto Sour
Sours cocktails history

Nutrition:

One serving of Amaretto Sour contains 234 calories.

Alcohol content:

  • 1 standard drinks
  • 12.97% alc./vol. (25.94° proof)
  • 13.7 grams of pure alcohol
Difford's Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Difford’s Guide to Cocktails Book 17th Edition image

Difford’s Guide to Cocktails Book 17th Edition

Perhaps the world's biggest cocktail book! Certainly, our biggest yet, 624 pages, 6cm (2.3inch) thick and weighing 2.25kg (5lb). Our Seventeenth Edition

Buy it here
Easy Jigger image

Easy Jigger

The Easy Jigger® is a measure designed for use when making cocktails, primarily in the home but also by professional bartenders. It has a unique design

Buy it here
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