Mango Whiskey Sour
Dry shake ∙ 5 min ∙ 16.2% ABV ∙
The Mango Whiskey Sour shakes bourbon with mango liqueur, lemon juice, honey syrup and egg white for a silky, mango-forward sour. A dense, velvety foam caps a tart, honeyed core, with a warm oaky backbone lingering through a long, softly spiced finish.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: Bourbon 45 mlMango liqueur 30 mlLemon juice 25 mlHoney syrup 10 mlEgg white 15 mlGinger bitters 3 dashes
- Strain back into the shaker
- Dry shake (without ice) to emulsify
- Fine strain into the ice-filled glass
- Garnish with a mango wedge
Tips
- Pre-chill the glass so the drink doesn't lose its chill while you complete the two-stage shake.
- Dry shake without ice after the first shake to build a stable foam before fine-straining.
- Add the ginger bitters as dashes on top after straining if you want their spice more forward than blended in.
History
Mango Whiskey Sour is a modern fruit-forward take on the Whiskey Sour, adding mango puree or mango liqueur to the classic base; no bar, bartender, or specific year is documented for its creation, and it appears mainly in contemporary recipe collections as a tropical variation rather than as a drink with its own traceable origin story.
Its parent, the Whiskey Sour, is one of the oldest named cocktail families: the sour template of spirit, lemon juice, and sugar was codified in Jerry Thomas's 1862 How to Mix Drinks — with no whiskey version yet in the book — and the drink's own name was in newspaper use by 1870, when the Wisconsin paper Waukesha Plain Dealer referenced it. A separate account, published decades later by an Argentine university journal, credits a ship steward named Elliott Stubb with mixing the drink in the Peruvian port of Iquique in 1872 using local citrus, a claim historians treat as a rival tradition rather than settled fact. The Mango Whiskey Sour keeps that sour's whiskey-lemon-sugar backbone but replaces or supplements the citrus-sugar balance with mango, giving the drink a sweeter, tropical fruit character.
FAQ
How do you make a mango whiskey sour?
Shake bourbon, mango liqueur, lemon juice, honey syrup, egg white, and a few dashes of ginger bitters together with ice, then strain back into the shaker and dry shake without ice to build the foam. Fine-strain into an ice-filled glass and garnish with a mango wedge. This double-shake method is what gives it a silky, well-emulsified texture rather than a thin, watery one.
Do mango and whiskey go together?
Yes, mango's sweetness works well with bourbon's caramel and vanilla notes, which is the pairing this cocktail is built on, with lemon juice keeping it balanced rather than cloying.
What alcohol is best for a whiskey sour?
Bourbon is the classic choice for a whiskey sour, prized for its sweeter, rounder profile compared to rye. This recipe uses bourbon as its base, paired with mango liqueur, which suits bourbon's natural vanilla and caramel notes better than a spicier rye would.
What alcohol goes well with mango?
Bourbon, rum, and tequila all pair well with mango, since its sweetness balances spirits with caramel, vanilla, or agave notes. This cocktail pairs mango liqueur with bourbon specifically, with lemon juice keeping the fruit from overwhelming the drink.
