Welcome to our new series, "The Happy Hour." It's Friday afternoon. Make yourself a drink.
To make a proper sour--whether it's a gin sour or a whiskey sour--all you need is citrus juice, sugar, and booze. (Never use purchased sour mix.) If you add grenadine and use both orange and lemon juice in a whiskey sour, you've got a Ward Eight cocktail. Add egg whites, subtract the orange, use rye whiskey, and you've got a Jefferson Sour.
In this Jefferson Sour, we use homemade grenadine, giving the drink a refined look and great flavor.
Jefferson Sour
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INGREDIENTS
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
3 cups rye, divided
1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice (from about 8 large lemons), divided
12 large egg whites (preferably organic), divided
Ice cubes
18 teaspoons Homemade Grenadine (recipe below), divided
PREPARATION
Bring 1 cup water and sugar to boil in small saucepan over medium-highheat, stirring until sugar dissolves; boil 2 minutes. Pour simple syrupinto bowl; cool. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover; chill.
For each drink, combine 1 tablespoon simple syrup, 1/4 cup rye, 2tablespoons lemon juice, and 1 egg white in cocktail shaker. Fillshaker with ice cubes, cover, and shake vigorously until cold, 30seconds to 1 minute.
Fill glass with ice cubes; strain drink from shaker into glass. Drizzle 1 1/2 teaspoons grenadine over.
Homemade Grenadine
INGREDIENTS
2 cups refrigerated pomegranate juice (such as Pom)
1 cup sugar
PREPARATION
Boil pomegranate juice in heavy small saucepan over medium-high heatuntil reduced to 1 cup, about 8 minutes. Add sugar; stir to dissolve.Simmer 2 minutes longer. Pour into small bowl; cool. DO AHEAD Can bemade 1 week ahead. Cover; chill.
Recipes by Kate Gilliam and Cory Mason
Photograph by Brian Finke