Dry Vermouth Sour

Taste

Two ounces of dry vermouth, three-quarters lemon, half an ounce of simple, egg white. The foam is the texture; the vermouth is the spirit, so the sour is grape and lemon under a dry foam. Shaken, coupe. A short sour with a dry cap.

History

A drink called Dry Vermouth Sour does not appear under that name in the pre-1970 manuals, nor in Difford's, Punch, or Imbibe. The parent is the sour itself: spirit, citrus, and sugar, printed by Jerry Thomas in 1862, with egg white common in American sours by the 1940s. Vermouth as a base is older still; J. Haney's 1869 Steward and Barkeeper's Manual already has a Vermuth Cocktail, and Harry Johnson's 1882 manual dresses vermouth with gum, bitters, and maraschino. This menu puts two ounces of dry vermouth through the sour template: three-quarters lemon, half an ounce of simple, egg white, coupe.

• The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, The sour
• Difford's Guide, Vermouth Cocktail

Same shape, other bottles

The Sour family, with the bottle that changed.

• Gin Sourwith gin
• Scofflawgrenadine for simple syrup
• Mickie Walkersweet vermouth and grenadine for dry vermouth and simple syrup
• Jack Roselime juice and grenadine for lemon juice and simple syrup
• Harvest Sourwith rye and apple brandy
• Mezcal Sourlime juice and honey syrup for lemon juice and simple syrup