Switch Up The Citrus In Your Sour Mix To Give Drinks A Pop Of Flavor
In the world of cocktails, sour mix is a heavyweight contender. But if you're looking to add a little extra something to your next cocktail party, skip the commercial plastic bottle and make your own at home. You'll be surprised at how much of a difference there is in taste. That and you open up a whole new world of possibilities when it comes to the type of drink you're making because now you can take the classic lemon/lime sour and turn it on its head by using different types of juice.
You could try the always popular blood orange sour mix or go for something a little more classic like grapefruit. If you want to wow your friends with something eccentric, a pickle juice whiskey sour could be just the trick.
Sours are fun because they're easy to play around with. For a little bartender theory, sours are two ounces of base spirit, ¾ ounce of sour ingredient, and ¾ ounce of sweet ingredient. So long as you have the ratios right, you can switch things in and out for each part like a boozy Dr. Frankenstein.
How to make the mix
Making sour mix is easy and so is switching the citrus out for another flavor. Depending on what type of mix you're making, the details might change a little but this is a general guideline. Each sour mix will start with a base of simple syrup. Start by bringing one cup of water to a simmer on the stove and pour in one cup of sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Congratulations, you just made simple syrup.
Here's where things will start to change depending on what type of mix you've chosen. For most fruit mixes you're going to want one cup of whatever juice you're using, whether that's kiwi or mango or strawberry. If you have a juicer you could use that to extract the juice from the fresh produce or you could squeeze it out by hand if it's an orange or something similar. Remove the simple syrup from the heat and stir in the juice.
Chances are you'll still want a little bit of citrus so decide if lemon or lime would go better with your juice of choice and get about ¼ cup of citrus. Stir it into the mix and adjust to taste. It'll still be warm so you'll want to let it cool off before you make a drink with it, otherwise it'll melt the ice.