Tag: egg

gin

Gin Campari Sour | A Bold Campari Cocktail That Actually Tastes Good

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Gin Campari Sour | A Bold Campari Cocktail That Actually Tastes Good. The Gin Campari Sour is the perfect drink for the adventurous and sophisticated cocktail lover. It's unique, simple, and far from sweet.

Maybe you’re already a fan of Campari cocktails, but I’m new to the Campari train. And honestly, it was not love-at-first-sip like it is for many others. The Gin Campari Sour is the first cocktail I’ve made with Campari that I actually enjoyed. I tolerate a Boulevardier and I detest Negronis. But this Gin Campari Sour… this cocktail could change everything.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like!

I bought my first bottle of Campari a few weeks ago. I was STOKED to try it. I’d had an Aperol Fizz a few years back at Liberty Food & Wine Exchange when I lived in Reno and loved the bitterness, so I assumed I would love a Negroni. I love me some wonky, unusual flavor profiles. Olives, tonic, extra dry red wine, sauerkraut. Yes, please. I knew Campari was supposed to be bitter and funky and is considered to be an acquired taste, and I felt CON-FI-DENT I’d acquired it at birth.

Oof, I was wrong. I love bitter. I love weird. Why don’t I love Campari? I was disappointed in myself. I kept sipping my Negroni, willing myself to like it and each time found myself hating it more and more. “I don’t like Campari!” I frantically texted some friends. “Why don’t I like it?!” To which they all replied in unison “Yeah, that stuff is gross.”

Gin Campari Sour | A Bold Campari Cocktail That Actually Tastes Good. The Gin Campari Sour is the perfect drink for the adventurous and sophisticated cocktail lover. It's unique, simple, and far from sweet.

Okay, maybe that’s not what they said verbatim but that was the general feel. I did feel validated by my friends but I could not confess such a fault to the Instagram world of cocktail bloggers. Campari is the cool trendy liqueur that all the cool trendy kids use in their cool trendy cocktails. I wanna be a cool trendy kid, at least in the cocktail world. So I tried some different drinks utilizing Campari and they were all meh or flat-out yuck.

But the Gin Campari Sour has opened me up to a whole new world–one for filled with the bitter-red liqueur I previously scorned. This… this is my gateway cocktail into Campari.

While Negronis and Gin Campari Sours share 50% of the same ingredients, its the egg white that makes all the difference. I recently used a raw egg white in a cocktail for the first time and experienced the silky-smooth texture it gives. I knew right after seeing the recipe for the Gin Campari Sour on a fellow Instagrammer’s profile that an egg white could be the element I needed. It really mellows out the bitterness of Campari, the dryness of the gin, and the tartness of the lemon juice.

Thanks to COVID-19 and the stay-at-home orders, I’ve only got a bottle of spiced gin– incredible, but probably not the most ideal choice for Campari cocktails. The most recommended gin for Negronis and other Campari cocktails is Tanqueray, but you can check out this article for several gin options that pair well with it. I also only have Angostura bitters so I used those in place of the orange bitters. We do what we gotta do, right?

This cocktail is definitely still bitter, but it’s accessible. If you’ve disliked other Campari cocktails, give this Gin Campari Sour recipe a try.

If you're a fan of Campari cocktails, you're sure to love the Gin Campari Sour. If you detest Campari, this may be the cocktail that wins you over.

Ingredients For a Gin Campari Sour

  • 1 1/2 oz gin
  • 3/4 oz Campari
  • 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 oz simple syrup
  • 1 egg white
  • 1-3 dashes of orange bitters

How To Make A Gin Campari Sour

Chill your coupe glass for 30 minutes or more beforehand, if you remember. Or just always keep one in the freezer for such an occassion.

In a cocktail shaker without ice, combine all ingredients. Shake until combined.* Shaking without ice is called a dry shake. Then, add egg white and a lot of ice. Shake vigorously for 30-45 seconds. This is the hardest part about this cocktail but the foam will be worth.it. Strain into your coupe glass. As the drink rests, the foam will rise to the top.

*If you’re using a 3-piece metal cocktail shaker, you might notice that it leaks during a dry shake. This is because without ice to make the metal cold, it won’t contract & form a tight seal. So just be a little careful and shake over your sink OR shake some ice in your cocktail shaker and then dump it out before starting your dry shake.

Need a cocktail shaker? This one is gorgeous and high-quality:

Out of all the Campari cocktails out there, the Gin Campari Sour is my favorite by far.
Whiskey Sour
whiskey

Whiskey Sour

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The whiskey sour gets a bad rap. To be honest, prior to creating the one you see in the picture, I’d only had one once… and that was the LAST one I ever planned on having. A friend bought it for me at a bar so I politely sipped until, Oh wait, someone’s calling me– hang on! *quickly places down drink & feigns sadness when it disappears a few minutes later* Don’t act like you’ve never been saved by a fake phone call.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

Most whiskey sours at your typical bar are going to be made with a whiskey sour mix. Y’all. Syrup-y mixes are rarely good. And if you’re the type who loves whiskey sour mix (no minimal judgment), I think you’ll enjoy a real whiskey sour ten times more. Fresh is always best. Change my mind.

One way that traditional whiskey sours are different from frat party whiskey sours is that the traditional version calls for an egg white. Truthfully, anytime I saw “egg white” as a cocktail ingredient, I kinda shuddered. I knew enough to know that they’re added to create foam and give drinks a silky texture… but the mental block was too great. Perhaps the apprehension stems from a childhood of banned raw cookie dough and a fear of Salmonella.

BUT I recently learned that only 1 in 20,000 eggs have Salmonella and that the average consumer will encounter 1 contaminated egg every 84 years. I’m not a big math person, but those numbers made me feel a lot more comfortable about using a raw egg white in a cocktail.

Plus, I also have my own backyard chickens so that puts me even more at ease. Although a healthy-looking chicken can still have Salmonella pop up in their eggs, it’s rare. But if you’re really freaked out by the possibility, just buy pasteurized egg whites in a carton. If you just need additional information before you can proceed, here’s a great article to read. Didn’t mean for that to rhyme but that was cool.

Here’s the little lady that made this classic cocktail possible. Internet, meet Helen. Helen, meet Internet. She’s a cochin (excuse her dirty feet feathers, but aren’t they adorable?) and is sweet as can be. She’s one of the more timid chickens my husband and I have had over the years but I absolutely love looking out the window and seeing her little cotton ball butt running across the yard.

If you’re starting to get serious about making cocktails at home, make this classic recipe and use a raw egg white. I double-dog dare you.

The Ingredients

  • 2 oz whiskey (I used a corn whiskey because it’s 100% gluten-free but you can use whatever you like)
  • 3/4 oz freshly-squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/2 oz simple syrup
  • 1 egg white – optional
  • 1-2 dashes Angostura bitters – optional

How to Make a Whiskey Sour

If you’re not using an egg white, just add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. If you are feeling adventurous, or you already know you love an egg white in your drink, add all ingredients to your cocktail shaker WITHOUT ice. (This is called a “dry shake”.) Shake for 30-45 seconds. Then, add ice and shake for another 30-45 seconds. Your arm is going to be screaming but the more you shake, the better the egg white will incorporate into the drink and the more foam you’ll get. Strain into a coupe glass.

As the drink settles, the foam will rise to the top. Garnish with a few more dashes of bitters. Besides just looking fancy, they actually add to the aromatic experience of the drink.