Scotch Sour

Essentially just Scotch Whiskey and Lemon Juice, the Scotch Sour is a simplified Whiskey Sour that uses Scotch Whiskey instead of Bourbon. It also just uses Lemon Juice and forgoes the other ingredients for a pretty simple drink designed to improve a Scotch and add additional flavour notes. This recipes usually calls for a Blended Scotch, but feel free to try this with different Scotch to see how you go.

Total Time 3

Servings 1 cocktail

Ingredients

45 mL Scotch Whiskey preferably Blended Scotch, but use something you like.
20 mL Lemon Juice

Instructions

Put all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake.
Strain into a Rocks Glass with ice.
Enjoy.

Notes

As mentioned, although the standard recipe suggests a Blended Scotch, we encourage you to have fun and try this with any variety of Scotch that you have on hand. Some, of course, will play better with the Lemon than others; it's worth experimenting.

We Have a Bit More to Say About the Scotch Sour

If you’ve seen our other sour cocktail recipes, you know we’re big fans of the style! The Scotch Sour sits apart from a lot of other sour cocktail recipes because it’s actually rather simple; just Scotch Whiskey and Lemon Juice. You can push this into more traditional sour cocktail recipe with a little sugar and even an Egg White, but it’s not necessarily needed. Although Bourbon, which is the base for the Whiskey Sour, has plenty of flavour on its own, Scotch can be a lot bigger and bolder in a lot of ways, and a lot more variable in taste as well. Cutting through it with those other ingredients can end up very good, or end up very bad. If you think this recipe is lacking in any way, but still like the Scotch Whiskey base, feel free to revert to the standard sour formula and throw in the Simple Syrup and Egg White. Also a bit of Angostura Bitters (or any other bitters) as well if you think the drink will benefit.

Does shaking a few of these at once work?

Yes, it does. The Scotch Sour doesn’t have the highest volume of liquid, so you should be able to fit more of each ingredient in your cocktail shaker to make a few of these drinks at the same time. Have fun making a few of these so you can enjoy them with friends.

Does making one of these in advance work?

Kind of, but we wouldn’t recommend it. Although there’s only two ingredients here, shaking the Lemon Juice changes things. This effect isn’t as pronounced as with other cocktails, but it still matters. Feel free to make a batch of these in advance, just not too far in advance.

When would you say is the best time for a Scotch Sour?

Scotch is a great drink for relaxing at the end of the day or after a nice meal. It’s one of those drinks for just sitting back, maybe with your feet up. You can do this solo or relax with some friends over a nice Scotch. It’s just one of those drinks. We think at least! We think the Scotch Sour falls into the same kind of category. If you’re a Scotch drinker, you already know it’s great on its own (or with a little bit of water or ice if that’s your thing). You probably can’t think of a need to alter or improve Scotch. But this is a drink you try when you want to try something a little different with your Scotch.

Going further, although Scotch can be enjoyed year round, we think it’s best in the Autumn or Spring when things aren’t too hot or too cold. Add the lemon to the drink gives a little bit more refreshment to it and pushes it more into a Summer drink. So perhaps this is a good cocktail for the warmer months for all your Scotch drinkers out there.

How strong is the Scotch Sour?

Take a look at the standard Whiskey Sour and other sour cocktail recipes (we’ll wait). You’ll notice that the amount of Whiskey in this recipe is slightly lower or the same as a lot of other recipes. Then go and take a look at some other cocktail recipes we have on this site (again, we’ll wait). Most other recipes have the same or slightly more spirit in them as well. Sounds like the Scotch Sour is about average when it comes to alcohol content!

What’s the best kind of music for a Scotch Sour?

Scotch is so variable and, as mentioned, the time for a Scotch is variable as well. We’re going to stand by a Scotch being a drink for relaxing and unwinding though. Sure, we could suggest some sort of relaxation music to go with a Scotch sour, but we don’t think that will do. What kind of music you like to relax with will be different from what we like to relax with and what others like to relax with. So we’ll leave this one up to you! Find your favourite music to unwind to, put it on, then make yourself a Scotch Sour. Sit down, unwind, and sip on this for a while.

Keep browsing for more cocktail recipes

We hope you liked the Scotch Sour! If you liked it, feel free to make another then browse further for other recipes. If you didn’t, oh well, find the next cocktail to make.

All Scotch Whiskey cocktail recipes: Scotch isn’t necessarily the most common ingredient in cocktails, but there are still plenty of recipes out there. Have a look!

All Whiskey Cocktail recipes: or just see what cocktails you can make with Whiskey in general. Whiskey, whether that be Scotch, Rye, Bourbon, or another style is quite a common base. There’s plenty to choose from.

All three ingredient cocktail recipes: if you’re into this recipe because it’s only got a couple ingredients, take a look at our selection of cocktail recipes with three ingredients or fewer.

Top 15 three ingredient cocktail recipes: or just take a look at our list of the top 15 three ingredient cocktails (as decided by us!). Hopefully you like them as much as we do.