● Medium 6 min
Vanilla Apple Sour
An autumn sour with whiskey, apple and BrandBar vanilla syrup.
Quick answer: 50 ml whiskey • 25 ml apple juice
Recipes
Whiskey cocktails
Whiskey and bourbon cocktail recipes: Old Fashioned, Whiskey Sour, Manhattan, Penicillin. Ratios, technique and how to pick a bottle for each drink.
BrandBar Editorial Team
Content prepared and tested by BrandBar's professional bartending team.
Whiskey cocktails fall into two schools. The first is strong and barely diluted: Old Fashioned, Manhattan, Sazerac. The whiskey is fully audible here, so the bottle should be one you would drink neat. The second is sour: Whiskey Sour, Penicillin, New York Sour, where lemon juice and sugar soften the base and a cheaper blend is perfectly appropriate.
Bourbon brings sweet corn-and-vanilla notes and works best in a Sour or an Old Fashioned. Rye is drier and spicier — the classic choice for a Manhattan. A blended Scotch fits almost anywhere, while peated single malt belongs only in drinks where the smoke is written into the recipe.
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Frequently asked questions
Which whiskey should I use for cocktails?
For an Old Fashioned or Manhattan, bourbon or rye: both are dense enough to be heard without dilution. For a Sour an ordinary blend is fine, since lemon and sugar rebuild the profile anyway.
How does an Old Fashioned differ from a Manhattan?
An Old Fashioned is whiskey, sugar and bitters stirred with ice in the glass itself. A Manhattan replaces the sugar with sweet vermouth, is stirred and served straight up in a cocktail glass.
Can I make cocktails with peated whisky?
Yes, but sparingly — the smoke dominates everything else. The classic correct use is a Penicillin, where peated single malt is floated in a thin layer on top and the base is built on a softer blend.
Other bases
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