An amaretto sour is 50 ml amaretto, 25 ml fresh lemon juice and one egg white, shaken hard without ice, shaken again with ice, then strained over ice into a rocks glass and garnished with a cocktail cherry. Add a small spoonful of sugar syrup if your lemons are very sharp. That two-to-one ratio of amaretto to lemon juice is the backbone of every good amaretto sour recipe, from the 1970s original to the bourbon amaretto sour served in cocktail bars today.
The amaretto sour has a mixed reputation, and the amaretto is not to blame. For years bars made it with bottled sweet and sour mix instead of fresh lemon juice, and the result was flat and sugary. Made with fresh lemon, it is what BBC Food calls a Bakewell tart in a glass: sweet almond, sharp citrus and a soft, silky texture. Below is the classic amaretto sour, the egg-free method, the original two-ingredient recipe, the cask strength bourbon upgrade, and four more amaretto cocktails worth knowing.
What Is an Amaretto Sour?
An amaretto sour is a sour cocktail. Sours are one of the oldest families of mixed drinks, described by Jerry Thomas in his 1862 book How to Mix Drinks, and they are built from a base spirit, lemon or lime juice and a sweetener, with egg white in some versions (per the sour cocktail entry on Wikipedia).
In an amaretto sour cocktail, the amaretto liqueur does two jobs at once: it is the base spirit and most of the sweetness. That is why it needs so little added sugar.
According to Wikipedia's amaretto sour entry, the drink was introduced to the public in 1974 by the importer of Amaretto di Saronno as two parts amaretto to one part lemon juice. It became popular in the 1980s, when most bartenders swapped the fresh lemon for commercial sour mix. Most amaretto sours on modern cocktail menus have gone back to fresh lemon juice and added egg white, and many add bourbon too.
Classic Amaretto Sour Recipe
Serves: 1. Prep time: 5 minutes. Total time: 5 minutes.
Ingredients
- 50 ml amaretto, such as our Amaretto Almond Liqueur
- 25 ml fresh lemon juice (about half a large lemon)
- 1 egg white (or 2 tablespoons aquafaba for an egg-free amaretto sour)
- 5 to 10 ml sugar syrup (simple syrup), optional
- Ice
- To garnish: a maraschino cherry or brandied cherries, and a lemon wedge or orange slice
- Optional: a few dashes of Angostura bitters
Equipment
- Cocktail shaker
- Jigger or measuring spoons
- Strainer
- Rocks glass (also called an old fashioned glass)
Method
- Chill the glass. Put the rocks glass in the freezer while you make the drink.
- Squeeze the lemon. Juice it fresh and strain out the pips. Fresh juice is what every modern recipe calls for.
- Dry shake. Add the amaretto, lemon juice, sugar syrup and egg white to the cocktail shaker without ice. Seal it and shake hard for 5 to 15 seconds. This whips the egg white and mixes it with the other ingredients.
- Add ice and shake. Add ice, a good handful of ice and shake again for about 15 seconds, until the outside of the shaker feels frosty.
- Strain. Fill the chilled glass with ice and strain the amaretto sour over it.
- Garnish. Let the top settle for a few seconds, then add cocktail cherries and a lemon wedge or orange slice. A few dashes of Angostura bitters on the white top is a common finishing touch.
Why the Ratio Matters in an Amaretto Sour Cocktail
Two parts amaretto to one part lemon juice is the ratio of the original amaretto sour recipe, and it still anchors the modern one. Amaretto is sweet enough to balance the citrus on its own, which is why the classic amaretto sour needs no extra sugar. Liquor.com makes the same point: the original recipe only required amaretto and lemon juice because amaretto itself provided enough sugar.
- Sharper: move towards 3 parts amaretto to 2 parts lemon juice, the balance in Jeffrey Morgenthaler's recipe below.
- Sweeter: add sugar syrup rather than more amaretto liqueur, so the drink does not get stronger as it gets sweeter.
- Lime instead of lemon: sours use lemon or lime juice, so lime works if it is what you have. Expect a greener, sharper finish.
| Amaretto sour | Amaretto | Lemon juice | Other ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original (1974) | 2 parts | 1 part | None, served over ice |
| Classic with egg white | 50 ml | 25 ml | 1 egg white, optional sugar syrup |
| Jeffrey Morgenthaler (2012) | 45 ml | 30 ml | 22.5 ml cask-proof bourbon, 5 ml rich simple syrup, 15 ml egg white |
Sour Mix vs Simple Syrup and Fresh Lemon
Sour mix, also called sweet and sour mix, is a non-alcoholic mixer that replaces two ingredients with one. Wikipedia's sour mix entry describes the traditional recipe as lemon or lime juice mixed with equal parts simple syrup, and notes that prepackaged commercial sour mix often contains artificial flavours, colours or preservatives. Amaretto is already sweet, so a sweet and sour mix doubles the sugar. That is the main reason the 1980s amaretto sour tasted so cloying.
Making your own simple syrup takes two minutes. BBC Food's method is to combine equal weights of sugar and boiling water, stir or shake until the sugar dissolves, and let it cool. A rich simple syrup uses twice as much sugar as water, which is what Morgenthaler's 2:1 syrup refers to. Keep homemade sugar syrup in a clean bottle in the fridge. Together, simple syrup and egg white are what turn a two-ingredient drink into the modern amaretto sour cocktail.
Amaretto Sour Without Egg White
The egg white adds a silky texture and the frothy white top, not flavour. BBC Food says you will not taste it. If you are vegan or would rather not use raw egg, BBC Food suggests 2 tablespoons of aquafaba, the liquid from a tin or jar of chickpeas, in place of the egg white. It notes that the texture will not be quite the same and the flavour is a little more earthy.
You can also skip the froth entirely and go back to the original amaretto sour recipe: 50 ml amaretto and 25 ml lemon juice, shaken with ice and strained over ice. It is sharper and thinner, and it is how the drink was first poured in 1974.
Bourbon Amaretto Sour (Jeffrey Morgenthaler)
Imbibe credits the bourbon amaretto sour now common on cocktail menus to Portland bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler, who published his recipe on 9 February 2012 under the title "I Make the Best Amaretto Sour in the World". His measures are:
- 45 ml amaretto
- 22.5 ml cask-proof bourbon
- 30 ml lemon juice
- 5 ml of 2:1 rich simple syrup
- 15 ml egg white, lightly beaten
He combines the ingredients without ice (or froths them with an immersion blender), shakes again with cracked ice, and strains over fresh ice. Liquor.com adds that regular bourbon is diluted to around 40% ABV, while cask strength bourbon is bottled at the strength it reaches after ageing, often 50 to 75% ABV. With that much amaretto and syrup in the glass, the sharper edge of cask strength bourbon keeps the drink balanced, and the small measure bolsters the amaretto rather than overshadowing it.
Any bourbon you enjoy will work, though a higher-strength bottle is closer to his intent. Our Koval "Chicago's Finest" Small Batch Bourbon is distilled in small batches from organically grown Midwest grains and was created exclusively for vomFASS. With bourbon in the glass, this is close to a bourbon sour with an almond accent.
What Is Amaretto?
Amaretto is a sweet Italian liqueur that originated in the town of Saronno. The name is a diminutive of the Italian word amaro, meaning bitter, so it translates roughly as "a little bitter". Depending on the brand, it is made from apricot kernels (often called apricot stones), bitter almonds, peach stones or almonds, all natural sources of the almond flavour. Wikipedia's amaretto entry puts its strength at generally 21 to 28 percent alcohol by volume.
Our amaretto almond liqueur is a sweet, almond-flavoured liqueur refined with other natural aromas. It works in cocktails and martinis and can be added to coffee, and it contains almonds. If you like the nutty almond note with a creamier finish, try our marzipan cream liqueur, which the product notes suggest drinking chilled and neat.
Tips for the Perfect Amaretto Sour
- Use fresh lemon juice. Swapping it for sour mix is what gave the drink its sugary reputation in the 1980s.
- Do not skip the dry shake. Liquor.com's advice is clear: the first shake froths the egg white. Without it, the white does not foam properly.
- Use fresh ice in the glass. Strain over new ice rather than tipping in the ice from the shaker, as the classic and Morgenthaler methods both do.
- Taste before you pour. Lemons vary. Dip a straw in the shaker, and add a little simple syrup if it is too sharp.
- Measure. A jigger keeps the two-to-one ratio honest, and it keeps track of how much alcohol is going in.
Making Amaretto Sours for a Party
For a crowd, squeeze the lemons and make the simple syrup ahead of time, and keep both in the fridge. Measure the amaretto, lemon juice and syrup for several drinks into a jug. Shake the amaretto sours two at a time so each one gets a proper dry shake, adding one egg white per drink to the cocktail shaker as you go. One 700 ml bottle of amaretto makes 14 amaretto sours at 50 ml each.
More Amaretto Cocktails
Amaretto pairs well with aged spirits, and three of the best-known amaretto cocktails need only two bottles.
Godfather
35 ml Scotch whisky and 35 ml amaretto, poured into a rocks glass over ice and stirred gently. Disaronno suggests a one-to-two version, 25 ml amaretto to 50 ml whisky. A smooth blended malt such as our Mac Spey Speyside Blended Malt Scotch Whisky suits it well.
French Connection
35 ml Cognac and 35 ml amaretto, poured into an old fashioned glass filled with ice and stirred gently. This is an IBA official cocktail. Our Cognac V.S.O.P. Premier Cru spends between 6 and 8 years in oak and has its own bitter almond and nutty aromas.
Godmother
The Godfather made with vodka in place of the Scotch. It is a lighter take on the same two-bottle idea.
Amaretto coffee
The simplest serve of all: a measure of amaretto liqueur stirred into a hot black coffee after dinner. For a cold version, pour amaretto and our cold brew liqueur over ice. If you enjoy layered shots, see our Baby Guinness recipe.
Where to Buy Amaretto in the UK
You can order our Amaretto Almond Liqueur online in 350 ml, 500 ml, 700 ml and 1 litre bottles, subject to stock, and browse our other liqueurs for more sour bases. In our Stamford shop at 1-2 St Paul's Street you can taste before you buy, and we encourage customers to refill and re-use their vomFASS bottles. Alcohol orders ship by DHL and need a signature from someone aged 18 or over. For another classic cocktail, our Classic Manhattan recipe is stirred rather than shaken and built on whisky and bitters.
Drink Responsibly
Amaretto tastes gentle, which makes it easy to underestimate. The NHS explains that one UK unit is 10 ml of pure alcohol, and that you can work out the units in any drink by multiplying its ABV by its volume in millilitres and dividing by 1,000. So 50 ml of a 28% ABV amaretto is 1.4 units before you add any bourbon. The NHS advises men and women not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis. The NHS alcohol units guide has the full breakdown. Our spirits and liqueurs are for adults aged 18 and over only.
Amaretto Sour FAQs
What are the ingredients in an amaretto sour?
Amaretto, fresh lemon juice and egg white, with optional simple syrup, served over ice with a cherry. Many modern amaretto sour recipes add a small measure of bourbon.
What are the two ingredients in an amaretto sour?
The original 1974 recipe used only amaretto and lemon juice, in a ratio of two parts amaretto to one part lemon juice.
What alcohol is an amaretto sour made with?
Amaretto, an Italian almond-flavoured liqueur. Bourbon is a common addition in the version popularised by Jeffrey Morgenthaler.
How do you make an amaretto sour in the UK?
Shake 50 ml amaretto, 25 ml fresh lemon juice and one egg white without ice, then again with ice, and strain over ice into a rocks glass. Garnish with a cherry.
Do you need egg white in an amaretto sour?
No. The egg white only adds texture and the white top. Use 2 tablespoons of aquafaba instead, or leave it out and serve the original two-ingredient version.
Is amaretto very alcoholic?
Amaretto is generally 21 to 28 percent ABV, which is lower than a typical 40 percent spirit such as gin or whisky, but it is still a strong drink. Check the label on your bottle for its exact strength.
What is a good mix with amaretto?
Lemon juice for a sour, Scotch for a Godfather, Cognac for a French Connection, vodka for a Godmother, or a hot black americano for an easy after-dinner drink.
