Each year on August 25, people across the United States observe National Whiskey Sour Day.
- An alternative to the traditional whiskey sour is the Boston sour which is made by adding a dash of egg white to the recipe.
- Another variation is the Ward 8. The Ward 8 has a base of either Bourbon or rye whiskey with both lemon and orange juices and grenadine syrup added for sweetness.
- The first mention of a whiskey sour was in an 1870 Wisconsin newspaper.
- After opening, a bottle of whiskey will remain good for five years.
- An unopened bottle of whiskey can be kept for over 100 years and will still be fit to drink.
- Both “Whisky” and “Whiskey” spellings are correct. Whisky is specific to Scotch Whisky, and Whiskey is Irish.
- Whiskey is the official state beverage of Alabama.
- Legend has, Jack Daniels ran away at the age of 6 and learned to make whiskey from a Lutheran minister.
- The origin of the Whiskey Sour is not quite shrouded in mystery, in fact, the oldest known mention of the whiskey sour was found in the Wisconsin publication the Waukesha Plain Dealer over 100 years ago. In the mid-1900’s a story was printed in the El Comercio de Lquique indicating that it was created by one Elliott Stubb.
- its first printed recipe appeared in that famed tome of 19th-century cocktail wisdom, “How to Mix Drinks,” circa 1862.
- Whiskey can be traced back to the monks of Ireland and Scotland, who first used grains in their alchemic distillation techniques, since the grapes of warmer climates weren’t available to them. The monks often referred to whiskey, as “uisgebeatha” or “water of life,” as it translates to in Gaelic. The word “whisk” or “quhiske” actually means to move away rapidly, to go lightly.
- Whiskey is actually beer (minus the hops), that has been distilled two or three times.
- Did you know that every year 4 percent of all whiskey stored in barrels evaporates into thin air? The good news is that this will not happen to your glass bottle of whiskey.
• There are five main regions across the world in which whiskey is distilled these are Kentucky, Tennessee, Ireland, Scotland, and Canada.
• Whiskey was originally used as an internal anesthetic and external antibiotic. - 1792. You: a sailor crossing the Atlantic for North America. Food is dried. Water is no good. And scurvy is a constant worry. Enter, the Whiskey Sour!
- Although the recipe wasn’t written down until 1862 by Jerry Thomas in The Bartender’s Guide, “sours” were a basic recipe for centuries. According to Brian Petro of The Alcohol Professor, “Vice Admiral Edward Vernon of England began mixing a few ingredients together to serve to his crew,” to help combat sea-sickness, malnutrition, and scurvy. But because they didn’t want an entire ship of intoxicated sailors, they began to water it down with lemon or lime juice. While the British used Gin and Brandy, Americans favored Whiskey, and thus the Whiskey Sour was born.
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