How to Step Up Your Whiskey Sour: Make a Bourbon Renewal

A sour is one of the original families of cocktails, and, done properly, is pretty straight forward: base spirit, an acid to create complexity and brightness, and a little sweetener to tame the sourness and round things out. Which means: a whiskey sour is a perfect cocktail to make at home, without any need to buy an overly sweet commercial sour mix.These chillier months are both whiskey season and the best time for citrus, so the ManMade take is: make a lot of whiskey sours this fall. And if you want to take the basic whiskey-lemon-sugar combo up a notch, try one of these: a Bourbon Renewal, Jeffrey Morganthaler’s update on the whiskey sour. 

The specifics are this: selecting the right American whiskey (Kentucky bourbon), nailing the proportions, and then adding some complexity with creme de cassis, a liqueur made from black currants. The result is definitely worth adding a bottle of cassis to your cocktail arsenal, and the whole thing just tastes like fall in a glass.

Now that I think about it, this may be my Thanksgiving cocktail this year: they’re so easy to make, I can just prep the components and invite my guests to just whip up their own. Get the recipe: 

Bourbon Renewal [JeffreyMorganthaler.com]