These days, it seems like every day is a faux holiday. To that end, today is National Whiskey Sour Day – not that anyone needs a reason to enjoy a cocktail.

The annual Aug. 25 recognition of the popular whiskey drink is now a tradition, although it doesn’t date back quite as far as the drink itself, which was first mentioned in 1870 in the Wisconsin newspaper Waukesha Plain Dealer.

As for who invented the drink, well, that flies in the face of its first American mention; per Wikipedia, In 1962, the Universidad del Cuyo published a story, citing the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio de Iquique, saying that a bartender named Elliott Stubb invented the whiskey sour in Iquique – in 1872.

Regardless, the whiskey sour is typically garnished with half an orange and a maraschino cherry, made with whiskey/bourbon, lemon juice and sugar. The drink is then shaken (not stirred) then either served straight or over ice.

And if you’re keen to enjoy a sour today, there are a few alternatives to consider. The Boston Sour adds a dash of egg white to the recipe, while the Ward 8 uses either a Bourbon or rye whiskey base with both lemon and orange juices and grenadine syrup for sweetness. In addition, the New York Sour adds a little bit of full-bodied red wine added to the top of the cocktail.

A Whiskey Sour also can be made with Scotch, although in that case it’s often referred to as a Scotch Sour. Courtesy of The Macallan, here is an alternative recipe for a Whiskey Sour using Scotch. 

Ingredients:

The Macallan Double Cask 15 Years Old

20ml lemon juice

10ml brown sugar syrup

Egg white

Oloroso sherry float

Method:

Shake all ingredients, except sherry, into an ice filled shaker.

Strain into glass over ice.

Using a bar spoon, slowly layer the sherry over the top of the cocktail.

And a more traditional recipe can be found here: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/whiskey-sour.