Message 23694 of 39188 in General Discussion

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> I always use an once or 2 of sour mix.....never knew you made them 
> with lemon or lime juice.....

Unfortunately the majority of bartenders I've encountered would answer the 
same.  

Sweet and sour mix is a shortcut that allows a bartender to make a drink 
cheaper, faster and with less precision.  I don't mind its use in some venues, 
high volume clubs or college bars, places where people aren't so concerned 
with the quality of the cocktails themselves.  What is sad is that it has 
become such a staple in most bars that bartenders no longer recongnize it as a 
substitution for citrus juice and sugar and have come to consider it a real 
ingredient in its own right.  

Let me put it this way: every drink recipe that lists sour mix as an 
ingredient is actually a simplified version of a drink that at one time 
included citrus juice (lemon would be the most common, lime would be second) 
and sugar (normally in the form of simple syrup to easily incorporate into a 
chilled drink).  So these guys who are making their Whiskey Sours with 
whiskey, lemon juice and sugar (shaken and strained over fresh ice) are making 
the real thing, that's what a WS used to be.  

I'm not saying that you can't make some perfectly good drinks with sour mix, 
but you'll be a step ahead of most tenders if you recognize it for what it is, 
a shortcut.  A tip for using sour mix - you pretty much want to shake anything 
that gets it, especially a sour.  I hate seeing a whiskey sour built in a 
rocks glass and handed to me.