Welcome To Wonkette Happy Hour, With This Week's Cocktail, The Irish Whiskey Sour!

An Irish prayer for us all, before we're doused in green beer.

Modify the garnish to the religious symbol of your choice if needed.

Greetings, Wonketeers! I’m Hooper, your bartender, and happy St. Paddy’s Weekend! A St. Paddy’s on Sunday basically means that this is going to be a lost weekend for many of us, and a very, very busy time for most of us in the industry. (Tip your bartender. Tip them well, if you ordered an Irish Car Bomb.) Let’s make something pretty and silky to start the festivities. Time for an Irish Whiskey Sour. I know, it’s fiddly and scary, but bear with me. This is one of the best expressions of Irish whiskey I know. Here’s the recipe:

Irish Whiskey Sour

2.5 oz Dead Rabbit Irish Whiskey

1 oz honey syrup

½ oz fresh lemon juice

1 egg white

Angostura bitters

Add ice to your shaker. Add the whiskey, honey syrup, and lemon juice to your tumbler and shake 30 seconds. Open your shaker and pour the cocktail into the large tumbler. Strain the cocktail into the small tumbler and discard the ice. Add the egg white to the small tumbler. Shake for one minute. Strain into a chilled coupe glass.

To clarify, since it can be confusing: I’m working with a two part shaker, a large and a small tumbler, sometimes called a Boston shaker, and straining with a Hawthorne strainer, which snaps onto either one of the shaker’s large or small tumblers. If you’re using a three part shaker, shake the cocktail the first time with ice. Strain the cocktail into a pint glass. Dump the ice out of your shaker. Pour the cocktail back into the shaker. Add the egg white, and shake 60 seconds. The goal here is to shake up once with ice and no egg to chill the cocktail, then shake again with no ice and egg to build a foam head.

When you’ve done all that, place one drop of Angostura bitters on top of the foam. Using a toothpick, draw the drop of bitters out into the shape of a cross. Serve at once. 

True confession: Of all the styles of whiskey out there — Scotch, bourbon, Japanese, rye — Irish whiskey is my favorite. Irish whiskey is generally made with triple distilled unmalted barley, and I’ve yet to find one that isn’t silky smooth. The bottle I’m using today is named after The Dead Rabbit, the finest Irish pub in America and a birthplace of the modern craft cocktail movement. 

The bar itself was named after the Dead Rabbit gang, a criminal organization in the 1800s dedicated to defending their turf from the Bowery Boys and making money hand over fist. Their leader, John Morrissey, was an epic character. He rose up through a career as a bare-knuckle boxer and thug for hire to become a casino owner and world-champion prizefighter. At the time of his death, he was a New York senator and respectable businessman. Legend has it that the entire New York Senate turned up for his funeral. Not because they liked him, mind you — just to make sure the bastard was dead.

The creamy, mellow nature of good Irish whiskey is emphasized when made into a classic sour. I know that raw-egg cocktails look scary, but you owe it to yourself to try one — if not at home, then at least under the care of a professional. The foam on top looks spectacular, but it’s the proteins in the egg that make this drink rich and silky. The mouth feel of a cocktail made with egg is close to melted ice cream in texture; this definitely isn't an everyday drink, but as a treat to start a holiday weekend it’s golden.

 I’ve never gotten sick off of an egg cocktail, but if you’re concerned about health issues by all means use a pasteurized egg. The head of foam on pasteurized eggs never seems as large as a standard egg, but it’s the proteins in the egg white that matter, not the head. If you prefer vegan cocktails, or just can’t stand the idea of drinking a raw egg, you can use aquafaba — basically, a chickpea broth. I’ve seen chemical-based cocktail foamers as well, but they seem to only create a head of foam on a drink; the silky smoothness just isn’t there. 

Let’s talk ingredients:

John Morrissey, the Irishman in question. Normally I’d post an ingredient shot, but the drink was gone by the time I got around to it.

Dead Rabbit Irish Whiskey: My local liquor store brought this beauty in as a treat for St. Paddy’s, so I indulged. It doesn’t disappoint; the bottle is smooth and complex, with the barest hint of oak. But you can use Jameson or Tullamore Dew in this glass with no problems. Avoid Jameson’s IPA and Stout bottles. These whiskeys are finished in beer casks. There’s nothing wrong with them per se, but if you want a shot and a beer, have a shot and a beer. 

Honey syrup: 50/50 honey and water, heated until the honey dissolves. I generally pour equal parts honey and water into a glass and microwave until it foams up a bit. Honey and Irish whiskey are wonderful together; I always sweeten my Irish whiskey cocktails with this stuff. 

Lemon juice: Always use fresh. I go very, very light on the acid here; too much, and the cocktail tastes dry and slightly bitter. 

Egg white: The fresher the egg, the better. I separate my eggs by cracking the shell and gently pouring the egg from one shell half to the other over the cocktail tumbler. Double strain the cocktail if you have any fear that you dropped some eggshell into the drink by accident. 

Angostura bitters: This is strictly a garnish — the bitters don’t flavor the drink, they just float on top of the foam. Use only one drop, and shake it close to the cocktail to avoid spatter.

Technique: It’s always a touch awkward to describe a reverse dry shake; it’s easier to see than explain. In essence, you’re shaking the drink once to chill it, getting rid of the ice, and then shaking the drink again to build up a head of foam. Cocktail Chemistry does a good job of showing you the process here. 

In summary and conclusion, drink well, drink often, and tip your bartender — donate to Wonkette at the link below!  

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