The Christmas Campari Sour is a cocktail is a festive play on the traditional Campari Sour for the holidays. Bright, silky, and refreshing, this is a lower alcohol apéritif that will make you want to carol with joy.
Table of Contents
[toc]
To make this cocktail more fit for the holiday season, I omitted the traditional use of grapefruit juice for lemon juice and a few dashes of Cranberry Bitters. The sharp citrus and bitter cranberry flavors are rounded out beautifully by the rosemary-infused honey syrup and egg white. Campari sour cocktails usually include a splash of gin, so if you’d like to make this beverage slightly more alcoholic, try adding an ounce of London dry gin.
What Makes a Sour Cocktail?
A cocktail can be classified as a sour if it has three main elements: a base liquor, freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice (the sour), and a sweetener. Occasionally, a sour will include an egg white to smooth is out or a splash of club soda to lighten the drink. There can be additions to this three-tiered structure, but a cocktail generally has to have all three main elements to be considered a proper sour.
Christmas Campari Sour
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Add the leaves from one of the rosemary sprigs, water, and honey into a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Stir occasionally until the mixture begins to simmer then remove from heat.
- Allow to cool then strain into a storage container. When kept refrigerated, the syrup will last several weeks.
- Add the Campari, honey syrup, lemon juice, and egg white to a shaker tin and dry-shake vigorously without ice for 15 seconds.
- Add ice and shake again until the tins feel well chilled.
- Double strain into a cocktail glass.
- Add several dashes of cranberry bitters on top of the cocktail and use a toothpick to create lines.
- Garnish with the fresh rosemary sprig and serve.
