Sweet almond on top, something considerably sharper underneath.
I have taken a week off ACOTAR, because I started the Mindf*ck series by S.T. Abby and it has completely taken over my evenings. Five short books, a heroine running a double life, and an FBI profiler who is very good at his job and very much looking in the wrong direction.
So the drink is an amaretto sour, named for book four. It arrives looking like the sweetest thing on the menu, all golden and soft-topped, and then the lemon and the bourbon land and it turns out to have a spine. Almond, citrus, a proper bitter finish, and a thick foam cap that makes it look far more complicated than it is.
It sits beside a plate of Double Life Arancini extremely well, since a sour is exactly what you want against something fried and molten. Alcohol-free version below, and a foam option for anyone who would rather not use raw egg.
A note on the read: the Mindf*ck series is very dark, and not in a teasing way. It contains sexual assault, graphic violence, torture and revenge killing, and the assault is central to the story rather than incidental. Check S.T. Abby’s own content warnings and your own comfort level before you start it. My spice level guide explains what my chillies mean, but chillies do not cover this, which is why the warning is written out properly.
What you will need
Makes 1 drink (scale up easily for book club, see the notes).
All the Lies Amaretto Sour
- 45ml amaretto
- 20ml bourbon, and do not skip it
- 25ml fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon simple syrup, or none at all if your amaretto is very sweet
- 1 egg white, or 25ml aquafaba, the liquid from a tin of chickpeas
- Ice
- A lemon twist and a brandied cherry, to garnish
- 2 dashes of aromatic bitters, optional, for the top
All the Lies alcohol-free sour
- 45ml orgeat, or almond syrup, cut with 20ml water
- 20ml strong cold black tea, for the tannin the bourbon would have given you
- 25ml fresh lemon juice
- 25ml aquafaba
- A dash of almond extract, if your syrup is mild
- Ice
- A lemon twist and a cherry, to garnish
Method
Step 1: Dry shake first, with no ice at all
Put the amaretto, bourbon, lemon juice, syrup and egg white or aquafaba into a shaker with no ice, seal it, and shake hard for a good 15 seconds. This is the step that builds the foam. Ice chills the protein and stops it whipping properly, so it has to happen dry and it has to happen first.
Step 2: Now add ice and shake again
Fill the shaker with ice and shake again for another 15 seconds, until the outside is painfully cold. The second shake chills and dilutes the drink without destroying the foam you just made.
Step 3: Double strain
Strain through the shaker strainer and a fine mesh sieve into a chilled coupe or a rocks glass over one big cube. The sieve catches ice shards, which would otherwise melt through the foam and leave it patchy within a minute.
Step 4: Let it settle, then garnish
Give it thirty seconds. The foam separates and rises into a clean white cap on its own, and garnishing before that happens just sinks everything. Then drop the bitters onto the foam, twist the lemon over the top and add the cherry.
Cosy Kitchen Notes
The bourbon is not optional. If you take one thing from this, take that. Amaretto on its own is cloying and one-note, and 20ml of bourbon is what gives the drink its backbone and stops it tasting like marzipan in a glass. It is a small amount and it does an enormous amount of work.
Taste before you add syrup. Amaretto brands vary wildly in sweetness. Some need a teaspoon of syrup, plenty need none at all. Make it without, taste it, and add only if it is genuinely too sharp.
Dry shake, then wet shake. Never the other way round. This is the difference between a thick white cap and a sad grey bubble. Fifteen seconds without ice, then fifteen with.
About the raw egg white. Raw egg carries a small risk of salmonella, and that risk is not worth taking if you are pregnant, very young, elderly or immunocompromised. Use aquafaba instead, which foams just as well and is what I use when I am making these for other people. If you do use egg, use the freshest you can and keep it refrigerated until the moment it goes in.
Aquafaba is genuinely as good. The liquid from a tin of chickpeas whips into a dense, stable foam and tastes of nothing once the amaretto and lemon are in. Use 25ml, shake it slightly longer, and nobody will pick it.
Make it for book club. Mix the amaretto, bourbon, lemon and syrup in a jug ahead of time and keep it cold. Foam does not survive batching, so shake each drink individually with its own egg white or aquafaba to order. It is about forty seconds a glass.
Quick answers
What is in an amaretto sour?
Amaretto, fresh lemon juice and egg white, shaken and served over ice or up in a coupe. The version most bartenders make now, and the one here, adds a measure of bourbon, because straight amaretto is too sweet to carry a drink on its own. A little simple syrup goes in only if your amaretto needs it.
Do you have to use raw egg white in a sour?
No. Aquafaba, the liquid from a tin of chickpeas, gives you the same thick foam with none of the raw egg risk, and it is what I would use if you are serving anyone pregnant, very young, elderly or immunocompromised. You can also simply leave the foam out entirely. The drink is still good, it just looks flatter.
Why will my sour not foam?
Almost always because ice went into the first shake. The protein needs to whip at room temperature before it gets cold. Shake dry for fifteen seconds, then add ice and shake again. Not shaking hard enough for long enough is the other common cause, and a shaker filled more than about two thirds full leaves no room for anything to aerate.
What does amaretto taste like?
Sweet, nutty and distinctly of marzipan, with a faint bitter almond finish. Most amaretto is made from apricot kernels rather than almonds, which is where that bitter edge comes from. On its own it is very sweet, which is exactly why it works in a sour where lemon has something to push against.
The Last Sip
The All the Lies Amaretto Sour is four ingredients, two shakes and a foam cap that does all the showing off for you. Sweet on arrival, sharp on the finish, and rather more interesting than it first lets on.
Pour one beside a plate of Double Life Arancini for the full spread. Full pairing lives on the Saturday Night Sip, Snack & Smut page.
It looks like the sweetest thing on the table. It is not.
