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If you’ve been experimenting with mixed drinks at your personal bar, it’s worth considering adding a classic frothy whiskey sour to your cocktail list. Dating back to at least 1862, this is one of the earliest cocktail recipes still in circulation. The whiskey sour, with its many variations, offers a fantastic baseline for those wanting to further their bartending skills or impress friends at the next mixer.

You can make whiskey sours by first shaking the required ingredients without ice in a cocktail shaker. Following this, you add ice, shake it again, then strain the mixture into your serving glass. This technique not only merges the ingredients but also builds a foaminess intrinsic to the whiskey sour. The shaking process creates the trademark ultra-smooth texture of this cocktail. Ice is a welcome addition to the shaker for texture but avoid over dilution by stray ice bits in the final cocktail. Drinks like whiskey sours are typically strained twice for this very reason, ensuring fruit pieces or errant ice are excluded.

Even beginners will find it challenging to mess up a whiskey sour, but mastering the basics will surely delight you and your friends. Try your hand at the fundamental recipe before adventuring into special variations like the orange liqueur-infused fancy sour, or the New York sour crowned with a float of red wine. Some whiskey sour recipes even incorporate egg whites for an added lush consistency. Whatever recipe you opt for, always remember to double-strain your cocktail. Excess ice can gradually alter the taste the longer it sits in a glass. Here’s to enjoying consistent flavor from the first refreshing sip to the finishing swallow.

Keep in mind that the double-straining technique doesn’t apply only to whiskey sour recipes. Pieces of muddled fruit and freshly squeezed citrus are excellent flavor enhancers for many drinks made at home, but added ingredients can result in unwanted floaters that end up in your cocktail glass, a less-than-ideal aesthetic for the smoothest cocktails. Take the extra effort and double-strain your concoctions, and your drink-mixing game will be instantly up-leveled.

Read the original article on Tasting Table