Amaretto Stone Sour

The amaretto stone sour is citrusy and refreshing! Cousin of the amaretto sour, it’s a spin made with orange juice, ideal for brunch or lazy afternoons.

Here’s one of the most refreshing, citrus-forward amaretto drinks there is: the Amaretto Stone Sour! Of course you know the Amaretto Sour, that classic boozy sour cocktail with the retro egg white foam. Well, the stone sour is a sour made with orange juice! It’s light and refreshing, perfect for sipping at brunch or on a lazy afternoon with a book. It’s sweet tart with just right right finish of nutty amaretto. In fact, it’s barely related to the amaretto sour at all….and it’s got an intriguing history. Here’s more about this unique drink.

What’s in an amaretto stone sour?

An amaretto stone sour is a sour cocktail made with orange juice and amaretto. The traditional sour has liquor, citrus, and sweetener. But a stone sour adds orange juice. This makes it a cross between a sour and a highball, a cocktail that uses a large percentage of juice or soda water. Here’s what’s in an amaretto stone sour:

• Amaretto
• Orange juice
• Sweet and sour mix

A few more orange juice cocktails? The Tequila Sunrise, Screwdriver, Fuzzy Navel, Harvey Wallbanger, and of course the always popular Mimosa.

The real story behind the amaretto stone sour!

The amaretto stone sour is known as a classic 1970’s drink. But here at A Couple Cooks, we did some digging into the real story behind this drink. Here’s what we found!

• The first mention of a “stone sour” in literature is in a cocktail book from 1917 called The Ideal Bartender by Tom Bullock. It was the first cocktail book ever published by an African American! The stone sour in that book had lemon juice, orange juice, rock candy syrup, and gin (here’s the original recipe).
• It’s possible that bartenders of the 1970’s dusted off Bullock’s recipe to make it into the amaretto stone sour. Change gin to amaretto, and poof! It’s a new drink.
• Tom Bullock, the Black bartender behind the stone sour, isn’t widely given credit for this drink. Let’s change that and tell the true story behind the drink that history has erased. Here’s more about African American bartenders behind popular cocktails.

Homemade sweet and sour mix is a must!

When you make this amaretto stone sour, promise us one thing. Make it with homemade sweet and sour mix! Sure, you could use storebought mix…but we find that pre-packaged sour mix is much too sweet! It also might have artificial colors or preservatives in it.

Our homemade sweet and sour mix is so full of sweet tart lemon lime flavor! It’s just the right amount of sweet and citrusy. Once you make a jar, you can use it for up to 1 week.

A quick substitute for sour mix

Don’t want to make your own sour mix? Or don’t think you’ll use the whole bottle? (We get it.) Here’s a quick way to substitute for a sour mix if you’re just making one amaretto stone sour drink:

• 1 ½ ounces sweet and sour mix equals ½ ounce simple syrup, ½ ounce lime juice, and ½ ounce lemon juice

What is amaretto?

Amaretto is an almond liqueur that originates from Italy. It tastes both sweet and bitter (amaretto means in Italian “little bitter”). It has such a distinctive flavor, once you’ve had it once: you’ll remember it forever. You may know the flavor from the popular amaretto cookies, a popular Italian sweet.

It’s worth getting a bottle for your shelf: you can use it in cocktails and in cooking, especially desserts! More drinks that feature amaretto? Try more amaretto cocktails like the Italian Margarita, Amaretto Coffee, Alabama Slammer, Toasted Almond, or French Connection.

When to serve an amaretto stone sour

The amaretto stone sour is a sweet tart and light, perfect for sipping! It’s great for serving as a:

• Brunch drink
• Lazy afternoon drink
• Boating drink
• Lake house drink
• Patio drink
• Retro 70’s party drink

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More sour cocktails

Sour cocktails are a family of cocktails with base liquor, sour, and sweet elements. Here are some more classics to try:

• Whiskey Sour, Tequila Sour, Vodka Sour, or Pisco Sour Try a classic sour: they’re retro perfection.
• Tom Collins Cocktail A Tom Collins is also known as a gin sour: is light and bubbly with soda water.
• Gin Fizz Cocktail Sweet, tangy, with a frothy egg white foam topping.
• New York Sour One of the best cocktails out there! Make a classic whiskey sour and float a layer of red wine on top.