As a resident of the City of Angels, I take issue with the fact that few cocktails are named after this great city! Enter my twist on the popular New York sour recipe: the LA Sour. Fellow Angelenos, this one’s for you!
Made with dry gin, bittersweet Amaro Nonino, bright tangerine juice, sweet honey, and a tannic red wine float, this gorgeously layered and elegantly complex cocktail tastes like a sip of old Hollywood, replete with glamor and grandeur.
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About This Recipe
If you’ve ever sipped a whiskey sour, you can probably imagine what the NY sour recipe tastes like. With the same familiar flavors of whisky, lemon juice, and simple syrup, the only difference is that a New York sour cocktail has a float of red wine on top.
To celebrate my beautiful home, I opted to make the LA Sour a grown-up, glitzy cocktail that isn’t just a red wine float away from one of the most well-known cocktails in existence. This Los Angeles Sour is original, filled with rich, complex flavors that’ll make you question every cliché you’ve ever heard about Southern California!
Reasons to love the LA Sour
As you may know, dry, herbaceous gin pairs beautifully with sweet, tangy citrus; using bright, sweet-tart tangerine juice is intended to replicate the flavor of SoCal’s dazzling sunshine. A drizzle of local honey syrup is a nod to our incredible agriculture (FYI, California is the 5th largest food producer IN THE WORLD) and our proudly tree-hugging love for pollinators.
Amaro Nonino brings bittersweet notes of grappa, burnt caramel, and citrus while saluting the darn-near globally represented population of our sprawling city. The final touch, a float of rich, ruby-hued *California* red wine is the perfect finale.
Ingredients & Substitutions
You don’t need much to make the delicious cocktail I’ve dubbed the LA Sour, so make sure you grab the best. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Amaro Nonino - This admittedly pricey addition to your bar cart will pay massive flavor dividends over time. Feel free to swap in slightly sweeter, boozier varieties of Amaris like Averna, Meletti, Ramazzotti, Montenegro, Tosolini, Cynar or Vecchio Amaro del Capo. You can also veer away from the purely Italian bitters and swap in German Jagermeister, Norwegian Gammel Dansk, or French Chartreuse.
- Tangerine Juice - Fresh citrus is abundant down here in sunny SoCal, and extra sweet tangerines are my favorites. If you can’t find fresh tangerines, I’ve found bottled tangerine juice at Trader Joe’s in the past, so you might also be able to find it where you are. Feel free to swap in freshly squeezed clementine juice or regular ol’ orange juice instead.
- Honey Syrup - This is just equal parts hot water and honey. If possible, reach for local honey to get a more nuanced flavor profile. For more simple syrup recipes, head over to my post for 15+ Simple Syrup recipes!
- Gin - Reach for your favorite sipping gin here. Either botanical options like Hendricks, Empress Gin or Old Val, or London dry options like Beefeaters or Bombay will do great.
- Red Wine - I suggest reaching for light- to medium-bodied wine with bright acidity and fruity undertones. I used a California pinot noir, but a gamay, beaujolais, or garnacha would all be lovely substitutes.
- Honeycomb - This is an optional garnish, but brings a big dose of class.
Equipment
- Cocktail Shaker - If you don’t have a proper one, try using a mason jar with a tight-fitting lid.
- Cocktail Spoon - So much more than a long spoon, a cocktail spoon is an indispensable part of your bar cart. It not only stirs and muddles, it also helps you create a perfect float for your LA Sour.
- Rocks glass - Also known as an old-fashioned glass, this has all the 1920’s Hollywood appeal I was going for.
How To Make An LA Sour
Making a Los Angeles Sour is simple, but the flavor is anything but. Here’s how it’s done:
Step 1: Shake all ingredients with ice until chilled and frothy.
Step 2: Strain into your serving glass filled with fresh ice.
Step 3: Float Wine. Hold a bar spoon over the cocktail glass and slowly pour the wine on top of the spoon. This allows the liquid to fall gently onto the top of the cocktail rather than sinking to the bottom.
Step 4: Garnish & Enjoy! Add a piece of honeycomb on top (if desired), then toast to your friends and loved ones. Cheers!
Optional Variations
- Add an egg white into your cocktail! Or, instead of using an egg white, swap in a tablespoon of aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas). It’ll fluff up beautifully!
- Use a different wine. Any fruity red wine is a great bet, but you can also experiment with a dry rosé or dry white wine if you prefer!
- Swap out your acid. Tangerine is on the sweeter end of the citrus spectrum, but you can easily use clementine, pomelo, orange, or even bittersweet grapefruit if you like!
Expert Tips
- Shake vigorously to aerate, but be careful not to dilute. You’re aiming for about 30 seconds of hard shaking before you strain.
- Use high-quality ingredients. Use fresh citrus juice and the best amaro and gin brands you can afford.
Frequently Asked Questions
A “float” in cocktail language refers to a layer of liquid on the top of your drink. Not only is it a stunning presentation, but having the concentrated flavor of whatever is floating (in this case, red wine) gives the cocktail a different flavor experience than if it were mixed in.
Flip over your bar spoon so the concave part is facing down. Insert it into the cocktail glass, touching the edge of the glass and the top of the liquid. Pour the wine (or whatever you’re floating) very slowly over the dome. It should create a visible layer on top!
First, choose distilled water, which is free from minerals and impurities. Next, boil it. From there, you can pour it into an ice mold of your choice, but you’ll get the clearest results if you use one that is primed for directional freezing.
You don’t need an ice cube maker to make clear ice, but you will need a pretty big freezer. The best way to ensure clear ice is by using boiled, distilled water and ensuring that the freezing happens from the top down (this is called directional freezing).
To achieve this without a specific ice mold or maker, pop a hard-sided cooler in your freezer to make sure it’ll fit. If it does, you’re in business! Pour the cooled, boiled, and distilled water into the freezer, close the top and place it in your freezer overnight. By the time you wake up, you should have a large, flat sheet of clear ice that you can then saw or break into smaller pieces for cocktail hour.
More Elegant Cocktail Recipes
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LA Sour
Equipment
- Rocks Glass
Ingredients
- ½ oz Amaro Nonino
- 1 oz tangerine juice
- ½ oz honey syrup, equal parts hot water and honey
- 2 oz Gin
- Touch of Red Wine, I used pinot noir
- Piece of honeycomb, optional garnish
Instructions
- Add amaro nonino, tangerine juice, honey syrup and gin into a shaker and shake for 30 seconds until chilled and frothy.½ oz Amaro Nonino, 1 oz tangerine juice, ½ oz honey syrup, 2 oz Gin
- Strain into your serving glass with ice.
- To allow your wine to float at the top of your glass, hold a bar spoon over the cocktail glass and slowly pour the wine on top of the spoon. This allows the liquid to gently fall onto the top of the cocktail rather than sinking to the bottom.Touch of Red Wine
- Add a piece of honeycomb on top if desired as garnish and enjoy!Piece of honeycomb
Notes
- Add an egg white! Or, instead of using an egg white, swap in a tablespoon of aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas). It’ll fluff up beautifully!
- Use a different wine. Any fruity red wine is a great bet, but you can also experiment with a dry rosé or dry white wine if you prefer!
- Swap out your acid. Tangerine is on the sweeter end of the citrus spectrum, but you can easily use clementine, pomelo, orange, or even bittersweet grapefruit if you like!
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