Sweet Versus Sour: Sour Cocktail Specs from Different Bars
December 23, 2013
This post is part of a mini-project looking at sweet and sour elements in cocktails, sponsored by PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur.
I asked bartenders on Facebook how they prepare their simplest Sour cocktail, like a Daiquiri, that calls for a base spirit, lime juice, and simple syrup. The goal was not just to get a Daiquiri recipe but the house standard measurements for Sour cocktails in general.
I made sure to collect everyone's simple syrup recipe as that makes all the difference. The ratios are of sugar to water, so that 1:1 is equal parts by volume sugar and water, and 2:1 is two parts sugar to one part water.
Bartender |
Bar |
City |
Sour Cocktail Spec |
Simple Syrup Spec |
Rich Heider II |
Market Street Kitchen |
Scotsdale, AZ |
2 parts strong, 1 part sour, 3/4 sweet |
1:1 syrup or a mix of syrup and cordial |
Jonathan Smolensky |
Hawksworth Restaurant |
Vancouver |
50 ml Rum, 20ml Fresh lime, 15ml syrup |
1:1 cane syrup |
Adrian Biggs |
La Descarga |
Los Angeles |
2 strong, 1 sour, 2 x barspoons fine sugar
|
|
Andrew Marks |
Rickhouse |
San Francisco |
2 OZ. white rum, 1 OZ lime, 0.75 simple |
1:1 |
Brett Robert Winfield |
Seven Grand San Diego |
San Diego
|
Whiskey Sour - 2oz Bourbon, .75oz Fresh Lemon Juice, .75oz Simple Syrup, 1 egg white |
1:1 Evaporated Cane Sugar |
(via Jacob Briars ) |
Venus Bar |
Santiago de Cuba |
2 Bacardi, 1 lime, 2 barspoons sugar |
|
Ian J. Adams |
15 Romolo |
San Francisco |
2 oz white rum1 oz fresh lime juice.75 oz simple syrup
|
2:1 |
Luuk Gerritsen |
Vegas 360 |
Curacao |
60 ml White Rum, 30 ml fresh lime (Venezuela/Colombia), 20 ml simple syrup. For local customers I increase the syrup by 10 ml |
2:1 simple syrup (hot method) |
Chris Elford |
Canon |
Seattle |
8 : 3 : 2, or 2 oz strong, 3/4 sour, 1/2 sweet |
2:1 |
Karl Goranowski |
Scott & Co. |
Tuscon |
2 spirit 3/4 sour 1/2 sweet
|
2:1 |
Travis Nass |
The Last Drop |
Phoenix, AZ |
1.5 oz Spirit .75 oz Simple, .75 oz citrus |
2:1 |
Morgan Schick |
Trick Dog |
San Francisco |
2 rum, 1 lime, 1/2 simple |
2:1 |
Brian MacGregor |
Wingtip |
San Francisco |
1.5 rum, half a lime, 1/2 simple |
1:1 evaporated cane juice |
Tom Walker |
American Bar at The Savoy |
London |
60ml rum, 30ml lime, 15 ml syrup |
2:1 |
Lee Potter Cavanagh |
Big Easy |
London |
50ml rum, 35ml lime, 25ml syrup |
2:1 by weight or 5:3 by volume white sugar |
Kevin Bragg |
Seven Lamps |
Atlanta |
2 oz rum, .75 lime, .75 syrup |
3:2 |
|
|
As you can see, the specs vary but they largely hover around equal parts of (1:1) sweet-to-sour, with some more sour than sweet and some more sweet than sour.
Typically we'd expect all cocktails that have sweet and sour elements at a given bar to follow about the same proportions/sweetness level of the bar's standard Sour.
Not mentioned previously is the fact that everyone is using different limes. A bar's limes may come from different countries (and change countries throughout the year following the seasons), be shipped a long distance or be locally sourced, and can vary in tartness from the beginning to the end of the season.
When balancing sweet and sour in a cocktail using fresh citrus, bartenders must seek out a consistent level of sweetness in their drinks, but how much of each ingredient it takes to reach that level may change throughout the year.
This post about sweet and sour is sponsored by PAMA, a pomegranate liqueur with a unique balance of sweet-to-tart you can read more about on the PAMAPros.com website. Follow @PAMAPros on Twitter!
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