Whiskey · Sour · Sour
Amaretto Sour Recipe
Amaretto's toasted-almond sweetness meets bourbon's backbone in this silky, citrus-bright shaken sour. Toasted-almond sweetness softened by fresh lemon and a whipped egg-white foam, with bourbon quietly backing it up — an easy, slightly indulgent sipper for a low-key evening in.
- Prep Time
- 2.5 min
- Method
- Shaken
- Glass
- Rocks glass (Old Fashioned glass)
- Strength
- Balanced
Every recipe on Sipped Right is tested for taste and balance before it's published.
Last updated October 20, 2026
About the Amaretto Sour
The Amaretto Sour was created in 1974 as a promotional cocktail for Amaretto di Saronno, mixing the almond liqueur simply with lemon juice; it became a fixture of 1980s bar menus, often made with pre-mixed sour mix instead of fresh juice. The modern version — adding bourbon and a whipped egg-white foam — was popularized by Portland bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler in 2012, who argued the original leaned too sweet and one-note on its own. His formula, built on real lemon juice, a splash of bourbon and a proper dry shake, is now the version most serious bars pour when a guest orders an Amaretto Sour, and it's the version behind this recipe.
The defining ratio is 2:1 amaretto to bourbon (1.5 oz to 0.75 oz) — amaretto leads, bourbon backs it up rather than the other way round — with lemon juice nearly matching the bourbon pour to keep the sweetness in check. It's essentially a Whiskey Sour with amaretto layered in as the dominant sweetener, which is why the two drinks share a shake-and-egg-white technique but taste nothing alike.
Ingredients
- Amaretto1 ½ oz
- Bourbon¾ oz
- Fresh lemon juice1 oz
- Simple syrup¼ oz
- Egg white½ oz
- Lemon peel, for garnish1 twist
- Brandied cherry, for garnish1
Method
- Measure and pour the amaretto, bourbon, lemon juice, simple syrup and egg white into the shaker.
- Dry shake for 15 seconds to emulsify and build foam.
- Add a scoop of ice to the shaker.
- Shake for 15 seconds.
- Double-strain the cocktail into a rocks glass over ice.
- Cut a swath of lemon peel.
- Express the peel over the drink and drop it in.
- Garnish with a brandied cherry.
Glass & Garnish
Rocks glass (Old Fashioned glass), filled with ice before the shaken drink is strained in — the format keeps the sour cold and lets a little extra dilution soften the sweetness as you go. Chill the glass beforehand if you can; amaretto carries a lot of sugar, and a cold glass keeps the drink from tasting flabby. Garnish with an expressed lemon peel and a brandied cherry. The peel does the same job it does in any citrus-forward drink — a spray of oil across the surface brightens the first sip — while the cherry plays off the drink's almond sweetness with its own dried-fruit note, a pairing borrowed straight from amaretto's own flavor profile.
Notes
This follows Jeffrey Morgenthaler's widely adopted bourbon-and-egg-white formula rather than the original 1970s all-amaretto pour. Skip the egg white for a quicker, still-balanced drink if you'd rather not separate one.
Tools Used
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FAQ
- Is an Amaretto Sour made with whiskey?
- The modern version is — a splash of bourbon backs up the amaretto for structure, a formula popularized by bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler in 2012. The original 1970s recipe, promoted by Amaretto di Saronno, was just amaretto and lemon juice, with no whiskey at all.
- Can I make an Amaretto Sour without egg white?
- Yes — just leave it out and shake the rest as normal. You'll lose the silky foam and soft mouthfeel it gives the drink, but the balance of amaretto, bourbon and lemon stays intact, so it's a perfectly fine option if you'd rather not separate an egg.
- What's the best bourbon for an Amaretto Sour?
- A higher-proof bourbon holds its own best against amaretto's sweetness — look for something bottled around 100 proof, or cask-strength if you can find it. A softer, lower-proof bourbon tends to disappear under the almond liqueur instead of giving the drink real backbone.
- What garnish goes on an Amaretto Sour?
- An expressed lemon peel and a brandied cherry. The peel's citrus oils lift the first sip the way they do in any citrus-forward drink, while the cherry's dried-fruit sweetness echoes the almond character already in the amaretto — a pairing borrowed from the liqueur itself.
- Who invented the Amaretto Sour?
- It was introduced in 1974 as a promotional cocktail for Amaretto di Saronno, mixing the almond liqueur simply with lemon juice, and became a fixture of 1980s bar menus soon after. The bourbon-and-egg-white version most bars pour today was popularized later, by Jeffrey Morgenthaler in 2012.
