Lime Sour
Dry shake ∙ 5 min ∙ 16.1% ABV ∙
The Lime Sour is a shaken vodka sour made with lime vodka, fresh lime juice, sugar syrup, and egg white, served over ice with a lime wedge on the rim. Silky and pale from the egg white, tart lime cuts through a soft sweetness before a faint spiced warmth from the bitters lingers on the finish.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: Lime vodka 50 mlLime juice 25 mlSugar syrup 15 mlEgg white 15 mlAngostura aromatic bitters 3 dashesSaline solution 1 dash
- Strain back into the shaker
- Dry shake (without ice) to emulsify
- Fine strain into the ice-filled glass
- Garnish with a lime wedge on the rim
Tips
- Shake the first round hard with ice to fully chill and dilute, then strain out the ice before the dry shake.
- Dry shake without ice for a full 15-20 seconds — this builds the creamy egg-white foam that the first shake alone cannot.
- Fine-strain into the glass to keep any egg white clumps out of the pour, then top with fresh ice.
- Add the saline solution sparingly — a single dash sharpens the lime without reading as salty.
History
The Lime Sour has no documented single inventor, place, or date; it is a generic name for a lime-juice variant within the broader Sour family of cocktails rather than a drink with its own traceable creation story. Sours as a category date to the mid-19th century, built on a base spirit, citrus juice, and a sweetener, and were codified by pioneering bartender Jerry Thomas in his 1862 guide How to Mix Drinks, which included early sour recipes made with lemon.
Later editions of the Sour spread to nearly every base spirit, with lime substituting for the more traditional lemon in versions such as the Daiquiri (built on rum) and the Gimlet (built on gin), and eventually vodka versions emerged as that spirit grew popular in the 20th century. A Lime Sour made with lime-flavored vodka, lime juice, sugar syrup, and egg white, similar to modern recipe-card versions, appears in circulation without any attributed creator, reflecting the pattern of home and bar recipes freely adapting the sour formula to lime rather than a fixed, documented origin point.
FAQ
What is in a Lime Sour?
Lime vodka, fresh lime juice, sugar syrup, and egg white, double-shaken and strained over ice. A few dashes of Angostura bitters and a dash of saline solution round out the balance, and it is finished with a lime wedge on the rim.
What is a Lime Sour?
It is a modern vodka sour — lime-forward, double-shaken to a soft egg-white foam, and served over ice in an old-fashioned glass rather than up. A single dash of saline is what keeps the sweetness in check.
How do you make a Lime Sour?
Shake lime vodka, lime juice, sugar syrup, egg white, Angostura bitters, and saline solution hard with ice, then strain the mix back into the shaker and dry shake it without ice to emulsify the egg white. Fine-strain into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass and garnish with a lime wedge on the rim.
What is a sour cocktail made of?
A sour is built from a base spirit, citrus juice, and a sweetener, most classically in a roughly spirit-citrus-sweetener ratio, often with egg white added for texture. The Lime Sour follows that structure with lime vodka, fresh lime juice, and sugar syrup, plus egg white for its characteristic foam.
Is a Lime Sour alcoholic?
Yes, the Lime Sour is alcoholic, built on lime vodka and coming in at about 16.1% ABV as served. The lime juice and other mixers soften the strength considerably compared to a straight spirit pour.
