Whiskey Sour Review

After being away for a while, we have returned with an basic, yet elegant review of one of the cocktails we all love (or most of us at least :)...), the Whiskey Sour. Sometimes when you go to a local bar, for us Eau Claire folk, The Pioneer Tavern, The Court N' House, and even your buddy's homemade bar, the Whiskey Sour that you will have made for you will include whiskey, Sprite and if your LUCKY, some sort of sweet and sour mix. These are fine and dandy when you want to go out and just "drive 'em home" but when you really want to enjoy this cocktail, those recipes don't always suffice. The Whiskey Sour we have here is made with the finest of ingredients available, without actually driving to the distilleries and orchards around the continent. The ingredients used are as follows:

• 2 1/2 ounces whiskey
• 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 Maraschino cherries/1 Lemon wedge for garnish
• (We used 2x the amount of ingredients to fill the glass for this cocktail)

First, get out the fresh lemon and cut it in half. Juice the lemon with a hand-press-style juicer to create the 1/2 ounce of fresh lemon juice. Pour that juice into your lowball glass. Next, take 1 teaspoon of sugar and add it to the lemon juice in the lowball glass. Stir the sugar until it dissolves in the fresh lemon juice. Add ice to the mixture that you now have and add the 2 1/2 ounces of whiskey over the ice. We used Wiser's Blended Canadian Whiskey specifically for this cocktail. Now, for some cocktails, you are supposed to shake them in a Boston shaker but with this drink, we will stir instead of shake. Now that you have all of the ingredients in the glass and have stirred the drink, it is now time to enjoy.

To begin, the presentation of this cocktail is very nice. The dark golden color of the liquid clashes well with a lemon or maraschino cherry garnish. It looks great in a rocks glass, either short and stubby or tall and slender. Feel free to choose.

Second, the smell is very much that of whiskey. Because we used a blended whiskey, the flavor is very sweet and mixes well with the "sour mixture" we used.

The taste is very flavorful. The sour taste is very natural and fits well with the whiskey. Wiser's seems to fit very well in this drink and is among the best I have ever used. The drink does have that certain sour taste that brings out a small bitterness to it. Even though the drink smells sweet, it certainly doesn't have a very sweet taste. The Whiskey "SOUR" is meant not to be a sugary drink and it follows that concept very well.

If you like the Whiskey Sour that you get at your local tavern, then you may like this cocktail. It is not as sweet as one that has Sprite or sweet and sour mix but it definitely has more flavor. Wiser's De Luxe Blended Canadian Whiskey can be found ranging from $20.99-$28.99/1.75L/ in 40%ALC/VOL. This is probably the best whiskey sour I have had and with good reason. The fresh, natural ingredients really bring out the characteristics that a Whiskey Sour is supposed to have.

Appearance: 8/10

Scent: 7/10

Taste: 9/10

Overall Score: 8/10

If you have had a Whiskey Sour at your home, what whiskey do you use? What ingredients do you use in your Whiskey Sour? Let us know what you think with a comment either on this post or on Facebook. One person who commented will be picked at random for a free 750mL bottle of whiskey to use in their Whiskey Sours at home! Happy commenting!