‘Sour’ drinks are amongst the oldest family of mixed drinks and have been served by bartenders in America since the early 1800s. The basic recipe for a sour is to combine a base spirit with lemon or lime juice and to add a sweetener to balance the flavour. Although this style of cocktail originated quite a bit earlier, Jerry Thomas is often referenced in his 1862 book, How to Mix Drinks for providing the first published recipe for this form of bar drink.
Typically a sour recipe will take the form of a 4-2-1 construction which represents 4 parts of base spirit, two parts of sour (lemon or lime juice), and one part of sweetener (sugar syrup or orange liqueur). This formulation works very well, allowing the base spirit to dominate the serving while maintaining the balance between the sweet and the sour elements. Sometime though, particularly when I am mixing with an outstanding spirit, I prefer to alter those ratios bringing an even stronger focus to the base spirit. Such is the case with Cabresto Don Silver Anejo Tequila.
Añejo Tequila Sour
3 oz Cabresto Añejo Tequila
1/8 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao
3/4 oz Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup (1:1)
2 dashes Orange Bitters
ice
Orange Peel
Add the first five ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice
Shake until the sides frost
Strain into a chilled rocks glass with ice
Garnish with orange peel.
Enjoy Responsibly!
If you are interested in more original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!
Note: My review of Cabresto Don Silver Anejo Tequila will publish tomorrow. Chimo!
The recipe calls for three strong flavours to coexist: spicy Rye Whisky, Sweet Vermouth, and the somewhat unique herbal bitterness of Campari. Balancing these strong flavours takes a bit of practice as not all rye whiskies have the same spicy kick, and not every Vermouth has the same sweetness (or the same herbal flavour profile). But when you get it right, the bar drink is a wonderful melding of flavours which makes the libation an ideal aperitif to enjoy before your evening meal.
For that reason, I choose to call my version of the serving a Spanish Mule as this tends to eliminate any confusion as to what the libation is, and this stops any potential lawsuit from coming my way. (And to be fair, I expect people to respect my rights under copyright so it is only fair that I respect the trademark rights of others as well.)
This cocktail, The Scarlet Ruse, is part of my ongoing series of Tequila cocktails named after the 
The Rum Howler Blog 