Drink · 5 min · 1 coupe
Bourbon orgeat sour
A whiskey sour with almond syrup instead of sugar, which is richer and rounder than it has any right to be.
The sheet · 1 coupe · 5 min
easyWhy tonight. A whiskey sour with almond syrup instead of sugar, which is richer and rounder than it has any right to be.
What it needs
Nothing confirmed on your shelf yet — this list is the whole ask.
- bourbon
- orgeat
- lemon
Good if you have them, fine if you do not: angostura.
Method
- 2 oz bourbon, ¾ oz lemon, ½ oz orgeat. Orgeat is thicker and sweeter than syrup, so use less of it than the ratio suggests.
- Shake hard — orgeat needs the work to integrate.
- Strain up. It should taste of almond and oak at once, not of marzipan.
- A dash of Angostura, and grate a little nutmeg if you have it whole.
An educational pour, not a reprint of a licensed spec. No allergen or alcohol-safety claim.
Cook or pour it, then edit the shelf if you emptied a bottle or used the last of something.
Why each of these is on the list
What the ingredients are actually doing
- bourbon
- Corn-sweet and vanilla-heavy from new oak, so it takes bitterness and citrus without being flattened.
- orgeat
- Almond syrup with a floral edge, and it brings texture as much as sweetness — it is what gives a tiki drink its soft, thick mouthfeel.
- lemon
- Acid you add at the end, not the start.
Missing one of them? The substitutions are written against those jobs rather than against a chart, so they say what each replacement costs this dish in particular.
Cooks from the same box
If you bought for this, you can already make these
Shares orgeat, lemon
Orgeat lemonade
Almond syrup, lemon and soda with no alcohol at all. It is the best zero-proof drink on this list and nobody expects it.
Shares orgeat, lemon
Army & Navy
Gin, lemon and orgeat. Three ingredients, and it teaches you what orgeat is actually for.
Shares bourbon, lemon
Final Word
A Last Word built on bourbon instead of gin, which makes it rounder and slightly sweeter.
Shares bourbon, lemon
Gold Rush
A whiskey sour with honey instead of sugar. Let the honey down with warm water first or it sits in a lump at the bottom.
Next
Cook it, then tell the shelf what you used.
The ranking is only as honest as the shelf behind it. Empty the cream, and everything that leaned on cream should stop being offered.