#Barefoot contessa whiskey sour recipe professional#

Like any addition of depth and character, memories tinged with drops of bourbon have always come back to me just bit more mystical, more sensuous and tangible than other spirit-infused moments of my early twenties. Perhaps it's because I discovered it at a specific time, perhaps because Southern drinking has long now been a culture upon its own, “a region dominated by Baptists, drinking carried, at best, the tinge of scandal and at worst, the risk of eternal damnation,”† or perhaps it's because I discovered the two at once. In that vein, the whiskey sour has always instilled in me a deeper sense of nostalgia. While whiskey is technically defined as “an alcoholic spirit distilled from a fermented grain mash,” one cannot legally call itself bourbon if it is not made in the United States, containing at least 51 percent corn, and aged in brand-spanking-new oak barrels.† If you're like me and love sustainability you'll appreciate knowing the responsible places will reuse barrels to age other spirits and wines, infusing these with even more depth and character.

Like Champagne, bourbon is a great love of mine, and like Champagne, it has its lore and regulations. The South is home to bourbon, and I am particularly glad my first encounter with it not only occurred here, but occurred right. The first time I had a whiskey sour was on a particularly eventful night, my senior year at university. I think this is where my fascination with the subject comes from I like to learn as much as I can about male-dominated areas in the hopes of sneaking in and messing their shit up.

#Barefoot contessa whiskey sour recipe professional#

If you type the words “whiskey sour” into your YouTube search bar, you might come across various clips touting titles such as, “The Best Whiskey Sour,”¹ “Everything You Think You Know About Whiskey Sours is Wrong,”² and my personal favorite, “Top Ten Cocktails for Men.”³ Nine out of the first ten videos in this search feature at least one male narrator, professional bartender or not, and if he’s not alone, he's hanging out with other males, makin’ cocktails and just being guys! (Insert muscle flex emoji.) It's not that this frustrates me per se, I simply find it ironic that while cocktails (especially sweet ones) are a thing typically written off as “just things girls do,” almost all of the instructions out there are written by men.