Blood Orange Whiskey Sour

This Blood Orange Whiskey Sour is as delicious as it is beautiful. With fresh blood orange juice, plus a touch of ginger, this will get you your daily dose of Vitamin C with a kick! The bright flavors of the blood orange pair perfectly with whiskey.

I didn't get to try blood oranges until I was almost a teenager, but now they are probably my second favorite citrus (sorry, nothing is ever coming close to lime)! Whenever I find them, usually in the winter months around here, I always have to pick some up. They are probably one of my favorite things to photograph!

Winter is also perfect for ginger, adding a bit of warmth and zing. I came up with this easy-to-make cocktail recipe with fresh squeezed juice to pair them up.

Looking for more wintertime recipes? Try out this Whiskey and Caramel warm cocktail, or try this Christmas Morning Punch as either a mocktail or cocktail.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• How to Make the Ginger Whiskey Infusion
• Equipment
• Instructions
• Top Tip
• 📖 Recipe

Ingredients

Fresh blood orange juice gives an amazing color to the drink, but the taste is different too. It is sweet, but there is a bitter note to it that I really like, especially in this drink. Here is what you'll need to make it:

• Blood Orange juice - preferably squeezed from a fresh blood orange. I've tried bottled blood orange juice from a specialty store, and it wasn't nearly as good or as colorful.
• Ginger infused whiskey - I used bourbon for this, but any blended whiskey should work nicely. Just use plain whiskey if you are not going to infuse it with ginger. See the next section on how to infuse it.
• Simple syrup
• Ginger Juice - I really like The Ginger People ginger juice

How to Make the Ginger Whiskey Infusion

I opted for whiskey as the base spirit since it adds to that warm flavor. I infused the whiskey with ginger to give it an extra punch of flavor. Although it's optional, it really does give a nice flavor.

To make the infusion, peel a bulb of fresh ginger to get the papery skin off. Then chop it up into small pieces, and add it to an airtight container.

Add the whiskey to the container and be sure to add enough to cover the ginger. Seal up the container.

Store the container in a dark, cool place for about a week, shaking it occasionally. You can taste the infusion every now and then to see if you like the strength of the ginger flavor.

When you are happy with the flavor, strain out the ginger solids and add the liquid to an airtight bottle.

Equipment

To make this drink, you'll need:

• Citrus juicer - I prefer the linked press juicer, but any juicer will work
• Cocktail shaker
• Cocktail strainer
• Cocktail serving glass - serve this drink up without ice in a Nick & Nora glass like I've shown, or add it to a larger glass with ice and top with seltzer or tonic

Instructions

This is a pretty simple drink to make. Start out by juicing a blood orange and adding the juice to your cocktail shaker. You'll need juice from about one full blood orange, although it may vary depending on how big the fruit is.

Then, add the whiskey, simple syrup and ginger juice to the cocktail shaker. Fill the shaker with ice and give everything a good shake, for about 15-20 seconds.

Strain the drink into your serving glass. Of course, the garnish is easy: add a slice of blood orange to the side of the glass. Can't get much prettier, in my opinion!

Top Tip

If you're having a hard time getting an even slice on the blood orange garnish, give this lemon slicer a try! It holds the fruit in place like a big fork as you cut through it.

📖 Recipe