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All cocktails Frisco Sour

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Frisco Sour

Aperitivo/aperitif · Citrusy · Classic/vintage

4.0 166 ratings

Ingredients

1 1/4 oz Bourbon whiskey
3/4 oz Bénédictine D.O.M.
1/2 oz Lemon juice
1/4 oz Lime juice
1/4 oz Sugar syrup 'rich' (2:1)
1/2 oz Egg white (pasteurised)
2 drop Saline solution 4:1

How to make

Serve in a sour or martini/coupette glass

Prepare

  1. 1 Select and pre-chill a SOUR OR MARTINI/COUPETTE GLASS.
  2. 2 Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist and skewered Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.

Method

  1. 3 SHAKE all ingredients with ice and strain back into shaker.
  2. 4 DRY SHAKE (without ice) to emulsify.
  3. 5 FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

  1. 6 EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and discard.
  2. 7 Garnish with skewered maraschino cherry.

Flavour profile

18.1% alc./vol. · 1.5 standard drinks · 202 calories

History

A Whiskey Sour with bourbon and monastic herbal notes.

The Frisco Sour originated as "Frisco" in vintage publications such as William "Cocktail Bill" Boothby's 1934 The World's Drinks And How To Mix Them, Lucius-Beebe's 1946 The Stock Club Bar Book, and David A. Embury's 1948 The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. One "FRISCO" recipe from these works is: Whisky............... ¾ jigger, Benedictine........ ¼ jigger. Stir well in bar glass with lump of ice, twist lemon peel over top and serve with spoon and ice water chaser. Another version, "Frisco Cocktail," uses 2 oz bourbon, ¾ oz Benedictine, with a twist of lemon peel, stirred and served in a 3oz. cocktail glass. A third "FRISCO" recipe specifies: 2 parts Benedictine, 1 part Lemon Juice, 6 parts Whisky. Shake or stir with cracked ice. Some recipes omit the lemon juice. The original Frisco is noted as being a bit sweet, and improved by adding orange bitters to enhance the lemon oils from the twist. This likely led to the addition of citrus juice in later versions. Stanley M. Jones' 1977 Jones' Complete BarGuide lists the "Frisco" recipe followed by a sour version. The "FRISCO" recipe in Jones' book is for a Cocktail Glass, stirred, with 2 oz Bourbon, ½ oz Benedictine, and a Lemon twist. The "FRISCO SOUR" recipe from the same book is for a Sour glass, shaken, with ½ oz lemon juice, ¼ oz lime juice, ¾ oz Benedictine, 1-¼ oz whiskey, ¼ tsp sugar, and a garnish of a Lemon wedge and lime wheel. The addition of egg white to this cocktail, once it transformed into a sour, is believed to have occurred in the 1990s during its popularity in London's bar scene. At that time, the Frisco Sour was encountered, served on-the-rocks, though it also functions well strained into a stemmed sour glass or coupe, as per Jones' recipe.