Edited by Aj
Good cocktail bars around the world have quietly rehabilitated the amaretto sour over the last decade or so, pulling it out of the sticky-sweet category it unfairly landed in during the 1990s. The drink that got written off as sugary and forgettable is now showing up on serious cocktail menus, made properly, and it turns out it was never the amaretto’s fault. The original recipe was just badly balanced.
The grown-up version fixes that. It uses bourbon alongside the amaretto to add structure and cut through the sweetness, fresh lemon juice for real acidity, and egg white for the silky foam that makes the drink feel complete. If you’ve been writing off the amaretto sour since the 90s, this is the version that changes your mind.
Where the Amaretto Sour Actually Came From
Amaretto is most closely associated with Saronno in northern Italy. The most popular story, told by Disaronno, traces it to a local innkeeper in 1525, though that is legend rather than record; commercial production took off in the early 20th century, and the liqueur is typically flavoured with apricot kernels or almonds. The amaretto sour itself is generally thought to date from the 1970s, when amaretto became a hit in the United States. The sour format, combining a spirit with citrus and a sweetener, is one of the oldest cocktail templates going. Put the two together and you get something that should have worked all along.
The version most people remember from the 90s used a sour mix from a bottle, no egg, and way too much amaretto and not enough acid. Portland bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler is widely credited with rethinking the recipe in 2012, adding cask-strength bourbon for backbone, fresh lemon, a touch of rich syrup and egg white for texture. His version spread through serious cocktail bars globally and it’s the template this recipe follows. It shares the same philosophy as the Dirty Martini in one important way: small adjustments make a dramatic difference to the finished drink.
What You Need
- 45ml amaretto (Disaronno is the benchmark, but any quality almond liqueur works)
- 22ml bourbon (a fuller-flavoured bottling such as Wild Turkey 101; Morgenthaler uses cask strength, which gives more flavour from a small pour)
- 30ml fresh lemon juice
- 5ml rich simple syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water), optional
- 15ml egg white, about half an egg white (optional; pasteurised carton egg white or 15ml aquafaba work just as well)
- A few drops of Angostura bitters, for garnish
- Ice for shaking
- Optional: a brandied or Luxardo cherry and a half-wheel of orange to garnish
How to Make It
- Combine the amaretto, bourbon, lemon juice, syrup (if using), and egg white in a cocktail shaker with no ice. Seal it and shake hard for 15 seconds. This is a dry shake, and it’s what builds the foam.
- Open the shaker, add a generous amount of ice, seal it again, and shake for another 15 seconds. The ice chills and dilutes the drink while locking in the foam.
- Double-strain into a chilled coupe or rocks glass using both a Hawthorne strainer and a fine mesh strainer. The double strain catches any ice chips that would wreck the foam.
- Dot three drops of Angostura bitters on the surface of the foam. Drag a cocktail pick through them to create a simple pattern if you want it to look sharp.
- Add a cherry and orange garnish if you have them. Serve immediately.
Getting It Right: Ice, Dilution, and Glassware
Ice: Use the most solid ice you can manage for the wet shake. Lots of small ice cubes or hollow ice dilutes too fast and you’ll end up with a watery drink. If your freezer makes decent cubes, chill them in the freezer until just before you use them rather than leaving them in a bucket to melt.
Dilution: The dry shake followed by the wet shake gives you control. The dry shake builds foam without adding water; the wet shake adds exactly the dilution the drink needs. Don’t skip either stage and don’t over-shake the wet shake or the drink ends up over-diluted and thin.
Glassware: A coupe is classic and shows off the foam beautifully. A rocks glass with a large single ice cube also works and gives the drink a more casual feel. What you want to avoid is a tall glass with crushed ice, which waters everything down and buries the foam before it has a chance to settle.
Three Twists Worth Trying
The Smoky Version: Swap the bourbon for a lightly peated Scotch. The smoke plays surprisingly well against the almond sweetness of the amaretto, and the lemon ties it together. Use a Scotch you’d actually drink on its own.
The Citrus Shift: Replace the lemon juice with fresh blood orange juice when they’re in season here in New Zealand. The colour is extraordinary and the bittersweet quality of blood orange makes the drink feel more complex without changing the basic technique.
Zero-Proof Amaretto Sour (no alcohol): Use an orgeat syrup as your amaretto substitute (it’s an almond syrup available from specialty food stores and some supermarkets) and replace the bourbon with a few drops of smoked tea or a small pour of cold-brew concentrate for bitterness and depth. Fresh lemon juice and aquafaba in place of egg white, then shake exactly as above. It’s a genuinely good drink. Low and no options have come a long way, and this one holds up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to use egg white? No, but the drink is better with it. Egg white adds texture and creates the foam that holds the bitters garnish. If raw egg isn’t for you, pasteurised egg white from a carton works well, and aquafaba (the liquid from a tin of chickpeas) is a genuinely good vegan substitute. Same technique, very similar result.
Why add bourbon to an amaretto sour? Amaretto on its own is very sweet, and the almond flavour is quite one-dimensional without something to push back against it. Bourbon adds a dry, slightly bitter grain character and enough structure to keep the drink from tasting like dessert. Think of it as the backbone. This is the same logic Spiritly applies when looking at how a supporting spirit changes a drink’s whole personality.
Can I batch this for a group? You can batch the liquid components, but you’ll need to shake each drink individually because of the egg white. Pre-mix the amaretto, bourbon, and lemon juice in the right ratios and keep it cold. When someone orders, add the egg white and shake from there. The foam doesn’t survive pre-mixing and it doesn’t survive sitting in a jug.
