Pisco Sour
Pisco, lemon, sugar and egg white shaken to a thick foam, with drops of bitters on top — the sour that tastes of grapes.
- Difficulty
- medium
- Prep time
- 4 min
- Strength
- 14% ABV
- Glassware
- Coupe glass
- Base
- brandy
- Serves
- 1
Related drinks
Ingredients
- Pisco60ml
- Fresh lemon juice25ml
Or lime juice, as in Peru
- Simple syrup20ml
- Egg white30ml
One small egg white
- Aromatic bitters3 dashes
As drops on the foam, not in the shaker
Garnish: Three drops of aromatic bitters on the foam
Method
- Chill a coupe glass.
- Add the pisco, lemon juice, simple syrup and egg white to a shaker without ice and shake hard for about 15 seconds to build the foam.
- Add ice and shake again, hard, until the shaker is very cold.
- Double-strain into the chilled coupe and let the foam settle for a few seconds.
- Drop three dots of bitters onto the foam.
Compared with the IBA specification
The International Bartenders Association lists this drink among its Contemporary Classics. Its specification is a standard for training and competition — one reference, not the only right way to make the drink.
CocktailHQ
- 60ml pisco
- 25ml fresh lemon juice
- 20ml simple syrup
- 30ml egg white
- 3 dashes aromatic bitters
IBA
- 60 ml Pisco
- 30 ml Fresh Lemon Juice
- 20 ml Simple Syrup
- 1 Raw whole Egg White
IBA ingredients as published at iba-world.com, retrieved 29 October 2026.
Allergen information
Contains an ingredient commonly associated with:
- Eggs (egg white)
Products vary, and this describes ingredients rather than the bottles you use — check every label. It is not a guarantee that a drink is suitable for anyone with an allergy. How this is worked out
Your version
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Equipment
Don't have everything? Here's what works instead.
Cocktail shaker
Household swap: A large jar with a tight lid.
Fine strainer
Household swap: A tea strainer.
Glass and ice
No ice in the glass
Served up, the drink was chilled and diluted in the shaker or mixing glass and goes into a chilled glass without ice.
Over a large cube it stays cold longer, but keeps diluting — it becomes a different, slowly lengthening drink.
About 197ml once mixed
The recipe's coupe glass is typically 150–250ml.
- Workable:
- nick & nora glass (a large one), martini glass (207ml or more), champagne flute (207ml or more), rocks glass, wine glass
- Unsuitable:
- highball glass
Needs a glass of about 207–219ml brimful.
How this is worked out
- A drink with no ice needs a little of the glass left empty — about a tenth — so it can be carried without spilling and has room for aroma.
- Filled to the top with cubes or packed crushed ice, roughly half to three-fifths of a glass is left for the drink.
- A drink built in the glass dilutes from the ice already there, so its melt water is not added on top.
- One large cube takes up roughly 65–125ml, from a sphere to a 5cm cube.
- Glass capacities are brimful and vary by maker — your own glass, measured with water, is the figure to trust.
Missing an ingredient?
Each swap below says what it changes and how to correct for it, so you can decide whether you are making this drink or a neighbouring one.
Instead of Egg White
Best substitute: Aquafaba
This is the foaming agent in this drink.
Quantity: Same volume
Flavour impact: A slightly looser foam with a faint bean note under strong bitters; the drink becomes vegan.
What changes
Aquafaba sits close enough to Egg White that the drink stays recognisably itself.
- Character
- Both are neutral and foamy, and you lose silky, and you gain faintly beany. Numbers can't see this: two ingredients can be identically sour and still smell nothing alike.
Moderate confidenceClose swapInstead of Pisco
Best substitute: Cognac
This is the base in this drink.
Quantity: Same amount
Flavour impact: Richer and woodier, with none of pisco's fresh grape perfume — a Brandy Sour rather than a Pisco Sour.
What changes
Expect more sweetness, less acidity and more intensity. Still a good drink, and a slightly different one.
- Sweetness ↑
- The drink will land sweeter, which also makes it read as less sharp and slightly heavier even though nothing else changed.
- Acidity ↓
- Less acidity is the change people notice most and diagnose least — the drink goes flat and slightly cloying rather than obviously wrong.
- Intensity ↑
- A more intensely flavoured ingredient will start to dominate the components around it.
- Character
- you lose grape, floral, earthy and bright, and you gain fruity, oaky, warm and refined. Numbers can't see this: two ingredients can be identically sour and still smell nothing alike.
To correct for it
- Cut the syrup or sugar back — start by halving it and taste before adding any back.
- Add a little more of it, or a squeeze of fresh citrus, until the drink lifts again.
- Scale it back by a third and let the other ingredients hold their share.
ExperimentalShifts the drinkBecomes a variation
Make it better
- Peruvian bars traditionally use the small limes sold there as limón. Lemon is closer to them than a UK lime, which is why lemon is the default here; lime gives a sharper, greener drink.
- The bitters go on top, not in. Shaken in, they turn the foam beige and lose the aroma that greets you.
- Use a Quebranta pisco for a classic earthy drink, or an aromatic Italia or acholado for a more floral one.
- Chill the glass in the freezer for a few minutes beforehand — a warm glass takes the edge off a well-made drink fast.
- Use freshly squeezed citrus juice rather than bottled — the aromatic oils fade fast once juiced, so squeeze just before making the drink.
Rescue this drink
- Thin foam that disappears
- Shake without ice first, and harder than feels necessary. A very old egg white also foams poorly.
- Smells eggy
- Express a strip of lemon peel over the foam and use the bitters — they are there to cover exactly this.
- Sharp and thin
- Your lemons were very acidic or the syrup was weak. Add 5ml syrup next time rather than cutting the citrus.
- Too rich to finishgeneral guidance
- Cream and coconut flatten the palate rather than refreshing it, so a second one is always harder work than the first. A squeeze of lime or lemon cuts through more effectively than reducing the cream, which just makes it thinner without making it brighter. Serving it in a smaller glass is the other honest answer.
- Texture looks split or curdledgeneral guidance
- This usually happens when citrus is added too fast to dairy, or the drink sat too long before serving. Add citrus gradually while stirring next time — a split drink often can't be fully recovered once it happens.
- No cocktail shakergeneral guidance
- A large jar with a tight lid.
Make ahead & storage
Make to order
Make this one to order — the foam has to be shaken fresh. You can still measure and group the ingredients in advance, which is most of the work.
- Fresh lemon juice:
- Fresh citrus loses its aroma within hours and turns dull. Squeeze it on the day.
- Egg white:
- The foam is built by the shake and cannot be made in advance.
Make it lighter
As written, about 2.4 UK units at roughly 14% ABV once diluted. 3 of six ways to lighten it work for this recipe. Units are an estimate of what is in the glass, not advice about drinking.
A smaller serveSupportedabout 1.6 units, 14% ABV
Every measure at two-thirds. The balance is untouched because the proportions are; the only trade-off is a smaller drink — use a smaller glass so it doesn't look stingy.
- 40ml Pisco
- 17ml Lemon Juice
- 13ml Simple Syrup
- 20ml Egg White
- 2ml Angostura Bitters
A longer serveSupportedsame 2.4 units, 10.1% ABV
Spirit, citrus and sugar topped with soda is how a sour becomes a Collins or a fizz — a well-trodden route. Note: the same alcohol in more liquid — weaker per sip, not fewer units.
- 60ml Pisco
- 25ml Lemon Juice
- 20ml Simple Syrup
- 30ml Egg White
- 3ml Angostura Bitters
- 75ml Soda Water
Give it the spritz treatmentPossible, with a trade-offabout 1.2 units, 6.5% ABV
Sparkling wine for the spirit makes a lighter, French 75-like drink, but it loses the backbone that balanced the citrus — you may want less sugar. Add the fizz last, at the glass.
- 90ml Sparkling Wine
- 25ml Lemon Juice
- 20ml Simple Syrup
- 30ml Egg White
- 3ml Angostura Bitters
Not recommended for this drink: reverse the ratio; split the base with a lower-strength modifier; replace part of it with an alcohol-free bottle
- Reverse the ratio. There is no wine-strength modifier — vermouth, sherry or Lillet — to swap measures with.
- Split the base with a lower-strength modifier. The recipe has no wine-strength modifier to move measure into, and choosing one for it would be writing a new drink.
- Replace part of it with an alcohol-free bottle. No bottle in this recipe has an alcohol-free counterpart in the catalogue, and we won't name one we haven't written up.
Or make something lighter by design: Virgin Daiquiri. All lighter drinks
What it tastes like
The taste, and what drives it
off-dry, very sharp, rich — a sour-structured drink served straight up, no ice.
Off-dry
Dry → Sweet
Sweetened enough to take the edge off without reading as a sweet drink.
What drives it: Simple syrup — carries the most sugar into the glass. Worked out partly from ingredient category rather than from recorded detail.
Very sharp
Soft → Sharp
Bracingly sour — the first sip is meant to wake you up.
What drives it: Fresh lemon juice — supplies the acidity. Worked out partly from ingredient category rather than from recorded detail.
Faintly bitter
Gentle → Bitter
A bitter edge you would only notice if you looked for it.
What drives it: Aromatic bitters — provides the bitterness. Worked out partly from ingredient category rather than from recorded detail.
Rich
Light → Rich
Rich in the mouth. Coats the palate and slows you down.
What drives it: Pisco — adds most of the weight. Worked out partly from ingredient category rather than from recorded detail.
Bold
Delicate → Bold
Bold. This drink is the loudest thing on the table.
What drives it: Pisco — is the most concentrated thing in the glass. Worked out partly from ingredient category rather than from recorded detail.
What you smell first
- Citrus peelLeads
From Fresh lemon juice
Every aroma here comes from the liquid itself; nothing is layered on top.
How it was worked out
Each reading comes from the recipe's own recorded taste scores combined with what each ingredient contributes, weighted by how much of it is in the glass. About 56% of this drink by volume has detailed ingredient data behind it; the rest falls back to broader category rules.
How balance actually works →If it isn't right
What goes wrong with this drink, and why
Only the faults this particular recipe is actually prone to — open one for the likely cause, the adjustment, and what the adjustment costs you.
It's too sweet
- Likely cause
- Simple syrup is carrying the sugar here, and it is the easiest thing in the drink to over-pour — syrup clings to a jigger and a "splash" is rarely the same twice.
- What to change
- Cut simple syrup by about a third and rebuild. If it is already made, a squeeze of citrus is faster than starting again.
- What that does
- The drink will read sharper as well as less sweet, because the acid stops being balanced.
- The trade-off
- That is usually the intention, but it is a bigger change than it sounds — overshoot and the drink tips into sour.
It's too sour
- Likely cause
- Fresh lemon juice varies more than any other ingredient in the drink. Limes differ by weeks of ripeness, and a sharp one can be half again as acidic as a mild one at the same measure.
- What to change
- Add sweetener a few millilitres at a time rather than diluting — you are correcting a ratio, not a concentration.
- What that does
- Sourness recedes and the drink gains a little weight.
- The trade-off
- Overshoot and you will be reading the too-sweet entry instead. Small additions, tasting between each, are slower but cheaper than a rebuild.
It tastes weak
- Likely cause
- Usually dilution rather than measurement: ice adds water as it chills the drink, and wet or small ice adds far more of it than cold, large ice does.
- What to change
- Use larger, colder ice and work faster. Adding more spirit fixes the symptom and unbalances everything else.
- What that does
- The drink gains definition without gaining sugar.
- The trade-off
- It will also read as slightly sharper, which is what 'more presence' usually means in practice — not everyone wants that.
It tastes harsh or hot
- Likely cause
- Almost always under-dilution. Shaking is how this drink gets its water — around 30% of the finished drink — and stopping early leaves alcohol heat that dilution would have rounded off.
- What to change
- Shake hard for the full time with plenty of ice; a short, gentle shake chills a little and dilutes even less.
- What that does
- The heat recedes, the drink tastes rounder, and flavours that were masked by alcohol come forward.
- The trade-off
- Dilution is a target, not a direction: past it the drink goes watery and loses concentration, which is harder to undo than harshness.
It's watery
- Likely cause
- Shaking adds water while it chills, and the two cannot be separated. Wet ice from a freezer door, or small cubes, will over-dilute before the drink is properly cold.
- What to change
- Use bigger, drier, colder ice and stop sooner. Chilling the glass first buys you time you would otherwise spend diluting.
- What that does
- More flavour concentration at the same temperature.
- The trade-off
- Under-dilute instead and the drink will taste harsh — the aim is the right amount of water, not the least.
It isn't cold enough
- Likely cause
- Served without ice, this drink is at its coldest the moment it leaves the shaker and warms from the first sip. A room-temperature glass takes a surprising amount of that cold straight back out.
- What to change
- Chill the coupe glass first — ten minutes in the freezer, or filled with ice and water while you mix — and strain the moment you stop shaking.
- What that does
- The drink stays in its best range for longer, and the first sip tastes the way it was balanced.
- The trade-off
- Very cold drinks smell of less, because aroma needs some warmth to leave the glass. A smaller serve that is finished cold beats a bigger one that is finished warm.
It doesn't smell of anything
- Likely cause
- This drink's aroma comes from citrus peel, carried in the liquid. Serving it too cold suppresses that: volatile compounds do not leave a very cold drink.
- What to change
- Let it sit for a minute before drinking, and use a glass that narrows towards the rim to concentrate what does escape.
- What that does
- Aroma arrives before flavour does, so the whole drink reads as more intense without a single measure changing.
- The trade-off
- The cost is temperature: a drink left to warm also dilutes faster, so this is a trade against how long it stays right.
The foam is thin or collapses
- Likely cause
- Egg white builds foam by trapping air, and ice gets in the way: shaken straight over ice, the drink chills and dilutes before the foam has had a chance to form.
- What to change
- Dry shake first — hard, without ice — then add ice and shake again. Or reverse it: shake with ice, strain the ice out, and dry shake once more for the densest head.
- What that does
- A thicker, longer-lasting head that softens the first sip and carries aroma.
- The trade-off
- Two shakes take longer and a reverse dry shake warms the drink slightly. Any trace of fat — cream, or oil from the shaker — knocks a foam down whatever you do.
There's too much foam
- Likely cause
- A whole egg white is around 30ml, which is a lot of foam for a single drink — the head grows to fill the glass and the drink underneath gets lost.
- What to change
- Measure egg white rather than estimating it: 15–20ml gives a proper head on a single drink. Let an over-foamed drink settle for a moment before garnishing.
- What that does
- A neat head with the drink still the main event.
- The trade-off
- Less foam means a less velvety texture. Measuring half a white also leaves the other half to use within a day or so.
Each drink comes out different
- Likely cause
- With 5 measured components, a few millilitres' drift in each adds up, and a shaker loaded for four chills and dilutes differently from one made for one.
- What to change
- Measure every pour with a jigger, and shake no more than two drinks at a time. Pre-mix pisco, simple syrup, aromatic bitters in a bottle beforehand so each round starts from the same base.
- What that does
- The fifth drink of the evening tastes like the first, at the same strength and balance.
- The trade-off
- Smaller batches mean more rounds of shaking or stirring; pre-mixing saves time but only for what keeps.
The sweetness is off even though I measured
- Likely cause
- Simple syrup is made at more than one strength. This recipe assumes sugar and water at one to one; a rich two-to-one syrup carries about half as much sugar again in the same measure, and a shop-bought one can be either.
- What to change
- Check which syrup you have. With a rich 2:1 syrup, use about two-thirds of the 20ml; with a thinner one, use a little more and taste.
- What that does
- The drink lands where the recipe meant it to, and the next one lands in the same place.
- The trade-off
- Rich syrup adds less water, so the drink is fractionally stronger and silkier even at the adjusted measure.
Something else wrong? Open this drink in the Recipe Doctor.
Taste profile
- Sweetness
- 2/5
- Sourness
- 4/5
- Bitterness
- 1/5
- Strength
- 3/5
- Fruitiness
- 2/5
- Freshness
- 3/5
- Creaminess
- 3/5
- Smokiness
- 0/5
Nutrition & alcohol
Estimate only- Calories
- 205 kcal
- Sugar
- 13 g
- Carbohydrates
- 14 g
- Alcohol units (UK)
- 2.4
- US standard drinks
- 1.34
- ABV
- 14%
- Serving size
- 170 ml
Show calculation assumptions
Source: Calculated from standard measures
Calorie breakdown: ~131 kcal from alcohol, ~74 kcal from sugar and mixers.
Likely range: 154–256 kcal, reflecting the confidence level above — not a lab-measured figure.
Assumes pisco at 40% ABV, 1:1 simple syrup, one small egg white and about 25% dilution from shaking.
These figures are estimates, not laboratory measurements — individual tolerance to alcohol varies. See our responsible drinking guidance.
Variations
Chilean Pisco Sour
Made with Chilean pisco and usually with lime, often without bitters on top.
Maracuyá Sour
Replace half the citrus with passion fruit purée.
What kind of drink this is
The structure behind the recipe
A shaken build: a sour-structured brandy-based drink, served straight up, no ice — foamed in the mouth.
Sour-structured
Something sour and something sweet held in balance over a base — the structure behind the whole sour family and everything descended from it.
Base
Pisco
Sour element
Fresh lemon juice
Sweet element
Simple syrup
Foaming agent
Egg white
Aromatic
Aromatic bitters
Drinks built this way are collected as the Sour family.
Technique
shaken
Ice is thrown against the liquid and against itself, chipping fragments off and driving air through the mix. Chilling, dilution and aeration all happen at once and cannot be separated.
A lighter, briefly frothy body and a cloudy appearance that settles as it stands. The aeration blunts alcoholic heat, which is why a shaken drink tastes softer than a stirred one of the same strength.
What it ruins: Clarity, and any carbonation. A shaken spirits-only drink arrives cloudy with ice shards floating in it, and shaking anything fizzy is the one rule with no exceptions.
Everything about shaking →How the technique works →Dilution
During mixing, then strained
Water from ice typically makes up around 30% of the finished drink for a shaken build (commonly 25–35%). Dilution is an ingredient here, not a side effect.
Why dilution is an ingredient →Served
Straight up, no ice
Coupe glass · 170ml
Chilled during mixing and then strained away from the ice, so it arrives at its coldest and most concentrated and warms from the first sip — which is why 170ml is the right size for it.
Texture and aroma
A foaming agent builds a dense head that softens the first sip and carries aroma up to the nose.
These components are doing aromatic work: you meet them at the nose before the first sip, and they shape how everything underneath reads.
Where to go from here
Each of these is here because of something specific about this drink, not as a standard set of links.
Drinking this with food: seafood, oysters and anything raw
On its recorded taste scores this drink meets the test for seafood, oysters and anything raw — the page explains the principle behind it rather than simply asserting the pairing.
Understanding why drinks work
Once you can make this, the intermediate path is where recipes stop being things to memorise.
Where it comes from
Origin and family
Origin of the Pisco Sour
Widely credited to Victor Morris's bar in Lima in the 1920s, where it was served to an expatriate clientele; Peru and Chile both claim pisco and the drink, and the claims remain disputed.
Proportions sit between the IBA spec (60ml pisco, 30ml lemon, 20ml syrup, one egg white) and common modern practice, with slightly less citrus than the IBA for UK lemons.
Family
Sour2 parts spirit · 1 part citrus · 1 part sweetener — shaken, strained, served up or over ice.
On drinks history
Cocktail origin stories are frequently repeated and rarely evidenced. Our history section separates what is documented from what is folklore rather than picking whichever version reads best.
History and culture →Try this next
- Clover Club
You may like this because it shares a sour-forward profile with the Pisco Sour, but uses gin instead of brandy.
- Ramos Gin FizzRamos Gin Fizz
You may like this because it shares a creamy-forward profile with the Pisco Sour, but uses gin instead of brandy.
- Jack RoseJack Rose
You may like this because it's part of the same sour family as the Pisco Sour.
Use up your ingredients
Bought a bottle just for this? Here's what else it's good for.
Related tools
Scale this for a party
Work out bottles, mixers, ice and total alcohol units for any number of guests.
How far a bottle goes
Drinks per bottle, which bottle runs out first, batching — and the cost, at your own prices.
Recipe confidence
A stable, well-documented modern classic; origin claims are noted as disputed.