Name: Amaretto Sour (by Jeffrey Morgenthaler)
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 45 ml Amaretto liqueur; 30 ml Bourbon whiskey; 22.5 ml Lemon juice; 5 ml Brown sugar syrup; 15 ml Egg white (pasteurised)

Amaretto Sour (by Jeffrey Morgenthaler)
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Amaretto Sour (by Jeffrey Morgenthaler) image

Serve in an Old-fashioned glass

Ingredients:
1 ¹⁄₂ oz	Disaronno amaretto
1 oz	Bourbon whiskey
³⁄₄ oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₆ oz	Demerara/Muscovado/brown sugar syrup (2 sugar to 1 water)
¹⁄₂ oz	Egg white (pasteurised) or 3 dashes Fee Brothers Fee Foam cocktail foamer or Aquafaba or Vegan egg white alternative

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill an Old-fashioned glass.
Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist and skewered Luxardo Maraschino Cherries.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice and strain back into shaker.
DRY SHAKE (without ice) to emulsify.
FINE STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
Express lemon zest twist over the cocktail and discard.
Garnish with skewered cherries.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Egg white (pasteurised) - Eggs

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Cocktail of the day:

19th April 2025 is Amaretto Day

Review:

As the name suggests, this cocktail is dominated by amaretto, with lemon juice providing the sour balancing element and a slug of bourbon giving backbone.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Classic Amaretto Sour

History:

Adapted from a recipe created in 2012 by Jeffrey Morgenthaler in Oregon, USA. Jeffrey's original formula calls for
45ml (1½oz) Amaretto
22.5ml (¾oz) Cask-strength bourbon
30ml (1oz) Lemon juice
5ml (1 spoon) Sugar syrup (2:1)
15ml (½oz) Egg white

More cocktails by Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Nutrition:

One serving of Amaretto Sour (by Jeffrey Morgenthaler) contains 267 calories

Alcohol content:

1.4 standard drinks
16.34% alc./vol. (16.34° proof)
19.2 grams of pure alcohol

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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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Showing 10 of 19 comments for Amaretto Sour (by Jeffrey Morgenthaler).
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Henry Tran

30th April at 16:06

Switch simple syrup with some cherry syrup (if you have it) such as Luxardo Maraschino Cherries, it will be more complex. Amaretto pairs well with cherry.

Avery Garnett

11th March 2024 at 15:39

Made a while ago, brilliant. Made it last night but with rye and, yup, still absolutely brilliant.

Peter McCarthy

6th March 2024 at 01:51

Is this supposed to be brown sugar or brown sugar syrup? (Because ml/oz is an unusual way to measure brown sugar...)

Simon Difford

6th March 2024 at 08:00

Thanks, Peter. It should indeed say brown sugar syrup. Now corrected.

Jarrett Sanner

3rd March 2024 at 03:35

Absolute banger

dan huff

19th November 2023 at 01:47

I made two for a side by side comparison, one with Bulleit Bourbon and one with Tincup Rye. The rye won out for me. Both are very nice. My wife preferred the traditional (no whiskey). I preferred this but with rye.

G. M. Genovese

28th August 2023 at 17:09

I love how this recipe is still spectacular with a budget amaretto like Di Amore and a serviceable, if not stellar bourbon like Evan Williams bottled-in-bond. What balance!

Matija Prelec

8th June 2023 at 16:46

Made many a batch of this over the years. Works great with a lot of spirits besides burbon.
Some notable ones are Aberlour A'bunadh, Goslings 151 and DonQ 151 (although in that case omit the sugar), and Chateau de Lacquy 12y.

Give it a spin when feeling adventurous.

Aidan Spurrill

23rd March 2023 at 07:17

I didn't have any bourbon handy, so I used Busker Irish instead. Turned out very nicely.

Ben Hall

11th September 2022 at 08:37

We had this for the first time last night. I can't believe I haven't made it before. We made it with Billington's muscovado sugar, which you can taste in the resultant cocktail. It was gorgeous. In a rocks glass, with one, giant ice cube. Thoroughly recommend.

Garret Brough

21st July 2022 at 19:20

I think this cocktails needs something like Rare Breed or Knob Creek Single Barrel mainly because the amaretto is just a touch too sweet and seems to hit a lot of things over the head with an almond shaped brick.