Cocktail Sour Mix

I’m a huge fan of citrus with my gin and bourbon. I found a DIY sour mix in a recent issue of Bon Appétite that I altered by skipping the sugar. (I include the original recipe too.) This is a great base for my signature drink, The Gracie, whiskey sours, Tommy margaritas (add a bit of Triple Sec), or mix with sparkling water for something nonalcoholic.

Photo credit: Bon Appetit

ingredients

• 1 grapefruit, scrubbed

• 1 orange, scrubbed

• 4 limes, scrubbed

• 6 lemons, scrubbed

If adding the sugar:

• 1 cup of granulated sugar

• ½ cup of water

directions

DIRECTIONS without Sugar (I opt to leave out the sugar because I can always add simple sugar later to taste. I don’t like my drinks overly sweet, and I find that when I’m using aperitifs, like Lillet, they are sweet enough and don’t need the additional sugar. But that’s just me.)

1. Using a vegetable peeler, remove wide strips of the zest from the grapefruit and a few of the limes and lemons to use as garnish.

2. Using your favorite method of juicing (I love this one from Vintage Kitchen!) juice all of the citrus. (You should end up with about ½ cup grapefruit juice, ½ cup orange juice, ½ cup lime juice, and 1 cup lemon juice. Don’t worry if any of the ratios are more or less - it will still work well.)

3. Strain the juice through a fine mesh sieve into a quart jar with a lid (or something similar) and store in the fridge.

DIRECTIONS with Sugar

1. Using a vegetable peeler, remove wide strips of the zest from the grapefruit and a few of the limes and lemons. (You may want to do a few more to use as garnish.)

2. Make the simple syrup. Place the zests into a small, heavy bottom sauce pan with the sugar and water over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and let it bubble, until the sugar is dissolved (3-4 minutes), stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let it cool 15-20 min.

3. Using your favorite method of juicing (I love this one from Vintage Kitchen!) juice all of the citrus. (You should end up with about ½ cup grapefruit juice, ½ cup lime juice, and 1 cup lemon juice. Don’t worry if any of the ratios are more or less - it will still work well.)

4. Strain the juice through a fine mesh sieve into a quart jar with a lid (or something similar).

5. Add the cooled syrup to the citrus juice (doesn’t have to be completely cooled, but shouldn’t be hot), close the lid, and shake to mix juice and syrup together. Store in the fridge; will last one-two weeks.

yield

Depending on the drink, you will get about ten-twelve 1oz pours.