Amaretto
Sour

Amaretto is sweet, so the balance depends entirely on the acidity. Use 4.5 cl amaretto to 2 cl fresh lemon juice, roughly two parts liqueur to one part lemon. The 1.5 cl bourbon is officially optional, but it gives the almond liqueur the dry backbone that keeps it from tasting like dessert. The bar spoon of sugar syrup may seem unnecessary alongside all that sweetness, but it rounds off the lemon. If you find it too sweet, increase the lemon juice to 2.5 cl before adjusting the amount of amaretto.

If you'd rather not serve raw egg white, use 2 cl aquafaba, the liquid from a can of chickpeas. It foams just as well, and you won't taste it at all. The technique remains the same: shake for ten seconds without ice first, then for fifteen seconds with ice, and double strain so no ice shards end up in the glass. Don't skip that first dry shake, because without it, hardly any foam will develop. Half a bar spoon more aquafaba gives a firmer foam cap, but also makes the cocktail slightly flatter.

If you have a bottle of amaretto and don't feel like shaking, the spritz is the quickest alternative. Fill a large glass with ice, pour in 6 cl amaretto, top up with 9 cl prosecco and a splash of soda, and garnish with half an orange slice. Sweeter and more almond-forward than an Aperol Spritz, and ready in half a minute. If you want to cut the sweetness, squeeze a lemon wedge over it. This version works well as an aperitif, whereas the sour is best served after a meal.

Outside a sour, amaretto pairs best with bitter and roasted flavors. Two centiliters in an espresso make a caffè corretto with almond, and a splash in cold coffee with milk works just as well. With cola and a lime wedge, you get a simple long drink; with bourbon and a dash of Angostura, a sweeter Old Fashioned. The classic is the Godfather: 4.5 cl scotch with 1.5 cl amaretto over a large ice cube, nothing else. Always keep the liqueur as the smaller component, because above 3 cl, amaretto takes over every other flavor.

The ingredients for Amaretto Sour rise or fall with the liqueur itself. Disaronno is the best-known bottle and works perfectly well, although it contains no almonds: the flavor comes from apricot kernels. Brands such as Lazzaroni and Luxardo are drier and more bitter, so you can use less simple syrup. The name amaretto is a diminutive of the Italian amaro, meaning bitter, and that bitter edge keeps the Amaretto Sour balanced. So taste the liqueur before adding the bar spoon of syrup; with a sweet bottle, you can use half a spoonful.

How do you make an amaretto sour if you don't have a shaker? A clean preserving jar or jam jar with a tightly closing lid does the same job: shake for ten seconds without ice first, then for fifteen seconds with ice. Strain it through a fine-mesh strainer or tea strainer into the glass. An amaretto sour cocktail without double-straining gets ice shards in the foam and settles more quickly. Chill the tumbler in the freezer beforehand, because in a warm glass the foam head disappears within a minute.