22 Sour Cocktail Recipes to Add to Your DIY Drinks Repertoire

Sour cocktails are a fascinating thing – ‘sour’ is historically a funny word to associate with food and drinks, but in the case of cocktails it’s actually an amazingly delicious sub-category of mixed drinks that are utterly divine.  

Here are 22 must-try sour cocktail recipes that are sure to up the ante on your DIY drinks repertoire in a big way:   

1. Whiskey Sour

Learning how to pull off a Whiskey Sour cocktail with egg white should be a rite of passage for every newbie cocktail maker. This sweet, slightly tart drink is an absolute classic with its retro foam topping, and a real game-changer in terms of mouthfeel and texture. 

Egg white? Yes! Your Guide to Making Egg White Cocktails the Easy Way

2. Pisco Sour

Hailing from pretty Peru, the Pisco Sour cocktail is an earthy and refreshing drink featuring pisco (a white Peruvian brandy made from Muscadel grapes), lime, egg white, and sugar as ingredients. It also happens to be the national cocktail of Peru and Chile. 

3. Amaretto Sour

The lovely Amaretto Sour cocktail is a nutty spin-off of the classic Whiskey Sour which incorporates an almond-flavored liqueur that comes to the party with rich notes of vanilla and a subtly bitter finish. We love serving this as an after-dinner drink with a cheese platter and plenty of dark, red fruit like plums and grapes. 

4. Classic Margarita

The amazingly zingy Lime Margarita is the OG drink that initially started the full-blown Margarita craze. Combining tequila, Grand Marnier, lime juice, and agave syrup, it pairs well with all sorts of tasty appetizers and main meals. As such, it’s a great trick to have up your hosting sleeve. 

Want to go low ABV? Meet Our Foxy Margarita Mocktail

5. Tequila Sour

Tequila summer cocktails do not come any more iconic than this. The Tequila Sour is the quintessential mashup between a classy 1920s sour cocktail and a tasty modern-day Margarita that waltzes on the fine line between vintage and trendy, with plenty of lemony-lime appeal.  

6. Sour Cherry French 75

We love a sour cherry cocktail, and the Sour Cherry French 75 is completely marvelous. This variation on the traditional French 75 cocktail recipe calls for 2 oz Bulldog Gin, 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice, 0.75 oz sour cherry syrup, 2 oz Prosecco, and optional maraschino cherries or a lemon twist to garnish. The cherry syrup adds a lovely blush-colored seasonal twist that makes it super photogenic (a fantastic Insta-opportunity for sure!). 

7. Gold Rush

First invented in New York Bar called Milk and Honey before Prohibition rolled around, the Gold Rush cocktail is similar to the Bee’s Knees but replaces gin with bourbon. Straightforward, sophisticated, and refreshing, it’s the perfect pre-dinner serve for your next summer party. 

8. Clover Club

Tangy, frothy, bright pink, and pretty as a picture, the Clover Club cocktail is an excellent option for gin lovers who want to expand their drinks repertoire, and a fantastic all-rounder drink that suits just about any occasion. We love it as a signature cocktail at weddings simply because it’s so lovely to look at. 

9. Gin Gimlet

Ostensibly first invented to help sailors stave off scurvy, this delightfully sweet and sour cocktail combines gin, lime juice, simple syrup, and an optional splash of club soda. The great thing about the easy list of Gimlet ingredients is that you can really adapt this drink to suit your taste by using vodka or tequila as your base spirit and experimenting with muddle ingredients such as basil and cucumber. 

10. Classic Mojito

To whip up an authentic Mojito, you combine a few indigenous Cuban ingredients to create a sweet, sparkly sip. It’s so easy – all you need is white rum, lime, mint, sugar, and a little club soda for a fizzy finish. 

Make it a mocktail: Make Our Summer Ready Virgin Strawberry Mojito

11. New York Sour

An IBA official cocktail, the New York Sour cocktail hails from the mid-19th century. Adding red wine to the base of a classic Whiskey Sour imparts a deep red color and striking aromatic qualities that make for a wonderfully complex flavor profile without being too finicky to shake up on the fly. 

What on earth is the IBA? 15 Drinks on the IBA’s List of Official Cocktails You Gotta Try

12. Gin Sour

Light, refreshing, and with a lot of character, the Gin Sour cocktail comes together with 2 oz of Bulldog Gin, 1 oz fresh lemon juice, 0.5 oz simple syrup, 0.5 oz egg white, and a few dashes of bitters. The egg white makes a luscious foam, but you can also skip it if you aren’t keen on the idea – the drink is equally fantastic without it. 

13. Lemon Drop Martini

The Lemon Drop Martini is a festive sour serve if ever there was one. With a perky attitude and a glittery sugar rim, this perfectly balanced and refreshingly tart drink had its origins in the heydays of the 1970s and was named after a zesty candy that was equally popular at the time. 

14. White Lady

While the original White Lady cocktail was made with crème de menthe, it eventually changed to gin. This is combined with orange liqueur and lemon juice and is then shaken with an egg white. The result is gin-laced sour with lots of zest and is a great cocktail to enjoy after an indulgent meal.   

15. Gin Fizz

Beautifully refreshing and light, a classic Gin Fizz calls for 2 oz Bulldog Gin, 0.5 oz fresh lemon juice, 1 teaspoon powdered sugar, 4 oz club soda, and a lemon slice to garnish. You can also tailor the drink to your liking by using an infused gin or opting for flavored sparkling mineral water.  

16. Southside

The minty-cool Southside Cocktail is made with gin, fresh mint, and a touch of citrus. We love using lime or lemon, but you could also shake things up by opting for orange, or even blood orange. In fact, you could also add a few dashes of bitters for a lingering aromatic note on the finish. 

17. Cosmopolitan 

The always sultry Cosmopolitan cocktail is sweet with a touch of tang from the lime. It tastes of cranberry juice with orange notes from the Grand Marnier and sips like a dream even though on the stronger end of the drinks spectrum. 

18. Vodka Sour

The iconic Vodka Sour combines vodka, lemon juice, simple syrup, grenadine, and bitters that are shaken with ice and strained into a rocks glass. Very easy to make and even easier to enjoy! 

More vodka vibes? The Definitive List of 2-Ingredient Vodka Cocktails

19. Sidecar Cocktail

The iconic Sidecar cocktail combines a good Cognac, a decent orange liqueur like Grand Marnier, and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Make sure to serve it in a chilled glass, and finish your Sidecar cocktail by twisting a piece of orange peel over the glass so the zesty oils will sprinkle into your drink.

20. Paloma

If you’re looking for a bright and bubbly cocktail, the Paloma is a perfect choice. Made with Espolón Tequila Blanco, fresh grapefruit and lime juice, agave syrup, and club soda, this drink is a refreshing twist on the classic Margarita. Garnished with a wedge of grapefruit, the Paloma has a sweet and sour flavor that is both tangy and refreshing.

Learn more: A Beginner’s Guide to the Different Types of Tequila

21. Lime Daiquiri

The classic Lime Daiquiri uses only three simple ingredients, and the recipe is a delicate balance between the sweet and the sour. It’s a fresh and straightforward lime cocktail that is very similar to a Classic Margarita in that you’ll be using fresh lime juice and sugar syrup, but instead of tequila, you’ll be using light rum.

22. Tom Collins

Sour cocktails don’t get easier than the simple Tom Collins. This iconic highball is a variation of the classic Gin Sour, and the ideal drink to clink when the weather is balmy and you want something ice cold, tall, and delicious to sip at leisure.

Other tasty cocktail avenues to explore

If the sour cocktail lineup has you excited to get your shaker out, here are a few other tasty mixed drink avenues to explore when you’re feeling adventurous:

The Best Gin Cocktails Ever Invented
9 Bourbon-Based Summer Cocktails to Beat the Heat
Pop the Cork: Our Best Cocktails with Champagne
15 Totally Tropical Pineapple Juice Cocktails
10 Simple Cognac Cocktails to Impress Your Friends

We recommend that you start from the top and make them all one at a time so you can find your ultimate cocktail recipe favorite. So, get shaking and sipping, and remember to tag The Mixer in your pics.