Sours

In the cocktail world, one drink is one ingredient away from being another drink. A Rickey is a gimlet with soda water and a sour is a gimlet with sugar added (and a sidecar is actually a sour with triple sec). If the drink has both sugar and soda water then it is a Collins. And if it has gin, it’s a Tom Collins.

The sour formula can be adapted to many different spirits and flavors, leading to a wide variety of sour cocktails. The key here is to strike the right balance between the sour and sweet components to create a harmonious and palatable drink. In addition to the basic ingredients, many sour drinks include an optional but popular component: egg whites. When shaken vigorously, egg whites add a luxurious frothiness to the drink, creating a silky texture and a visually appealing layer of foam on top.

Sidecar, Whiskey Sour, Margarita, Daiquiri, Cosmopolitan. These drinks have something fundamental in common: they're all sours. Sours are fundamental cocktails. Take a base spirit, add citrus, and polish it off with a sweetener, often (but not always) triple sec - simple syrup, grenadine, and pineapple juice are other sweeteners used. Egg whites are also included in some sours. Tweak the balance as you will, but sours made well are always delicious.

Classic Sours are distinguished by the non-alcoholic sweeteners they're mixed with (sugar, flavored syrup, or a sweet fruit juice). The Gin Sour is a traditional mixed cocktail that predates prohibition. It is a simple combination of gin, lemon juice, and sugar.

Gin Sour - gin, lemon juice, and sugar, sometimes with egg white for a creamier texture
Daiquiri - rum, lime juice, simple syrup.
Whiskey sour - Bourbon, lemon juice, simple syrup. Ususally garnished with a maraschino cherry.
Midori® Sour - Midori® Melon Liqueur, grapefruit juice
Pisco Sour - pisco brandy from Chile and Peru, lime (more strictly, limón de pica) juice, simple syrup, egg white, and bitters
Gimlet: A simple gin cocktail with lime juice and simple syrup.
Rum Sour: rum, lemon or lime juice, and sugar mixed together. It tastes like a tropical holiday. Add a bit of orange liqueur, and you’ve got a Rum Daisy.
Tequila Sour: A lively blend of bold tequila and sharp lemon juice, smoothed over with a little sugar. Rim the glass with salt, and you’ve got a Salty Tequila Sour.
Amaretto Sour: A sweeter sour featuring Amaretto liqueur, lemon juice, and sometimes egg white.
Trinidad Sour: A sour with a combination of bitters as its primary ingredient.
Paloma: A tequila-based sour with lime juice and grapefruit soda.

New Orleans Sours (as defined by mixologist Gary Regan), get their sweetness from liqueur. In the case of New Orleans Sours, an orange-flavored one, such as Cointreau, triple sec, or curaçao:

Sidecar - A cognac-based sour with lemon juice and orange liqueur.
Margarita - A tequila-based sour with lime juice and orange liqueur, often served with a salted rim.
Cosmopolitan - vodka, Cointreau, lime juice, and cranberry juice
Between the Sheets - cognac, light rum, triple sec, and fresh lemon juice (Between the Sheets dates to Prohibition)
Aviation - gin, Maraschino liqueur, and lemon juice
Corpse Reviver No. 2 - gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc, and lemon juice
Kamikaze - vodka, triple sec, and lime juice, mixed in equal parts
Brandy Sour or Brandy Daisy (Jerry Thomas, 1887) - brandy, clear or orange curaçao, sugar, lemon juice, shaken and strained into a wine glass.
White Lady (also known as a Delilah, Chelsea Side-car, Kiernander, Janikedvence and Lillian Forever) - essentially a Sidecar made with gin in place of brandy. What makes it different from the simple gin sour is the switching of sugar for triple sec. The cocktail sometimes also includes additional ingredients, e.g. egg white, sugar and cream.

Sparkling Sours contain a base spirit, lemon or lime juice, a sweetening agent, and a carbonated beverage. Collines, Slings and Fizzes

Adding carbonated water to a Gin Sour turns it into a gin fizz. Popular during the 1940s.

Collins: Basically a sour in a tall glass with club soda or seltzer water. The famous Tom Collins made with gin has been extended to include everything from applejack (a Jack Collins) to Irish whiskey (Mike Collins).

Variations of the Tom Collins:
John Collins: Uses whiskey instead of gin.
Brandy Collins: Uses brandy, cognac, or armagnac.
Vodka Collins: Uses vodka instead of gin.
Rum Collins (or Ron Collins): Uses light rum and lime juice.
French 75: Uses Champagne instead of soda water.
Simple Summer Collins: Equal parts gin and lemonade.

Sling: One of the earliest drinks along with the toddy. A tall drink made with either brandy, whiskey or gin, with lemon juice, sugar and soda water. It is served both hot and cold. Made like sangarees with the addition of lemon juice and a twist of lemon peel. Served in an old fashioned glass.

Fizz: Made from liquor, citrus juices and sugar. Shaken with ice and strained into a highball glass. Soda "fizz" water is then added. There are many fine old recipes for Fizzes, which are as the name suggests, products of the old siphon bottle that "fizzed" the drink with a stream of bubbles as it was being made. The Gin Fizz is typical and similar to the Tom Collins. Any carbonated beverage even champagne may be used.

Mojito: A Mojito is a cool, minty cocktail that combines white rum, sugar, lime juice, soda water, and fresh mint leaves. It is a type of fizz cocktail. You gently muddle the mint to release its flavor, which is like a refreshing whisper in this bubbly, sweet drink.