Rum Sour: You’ll Be Sweet On This Drink

There is nothing better for a relaxing night cap than a tasty cocktail from the sours family of drinks. The Rum Sour is a perfect candidate to get you feeling better after a long hard week of working. Kick back, relax, and let’s make a drink together!

What does a Rum Sour taste like?

Similar to the Gin Sour, Vodka Sour, Amaretto Sour, and Whiskey Sour, the Rum Sour blends perfectly with the sours flavor, whether the sours is from a mix or homemade. And, just like those other drinks, this cocktail has it’s own unique flavor profile.

We prefer to use a dark rum when making our recipe. Most rum will have a bit of a crisp, baked sugar flavor on the back end. Dark rum has this but also adds a caramel taste to the mix, as well. It’s almost as if dark rum and sours were made to be together.

Sours mix or homemade?

You can definitely buy a bottle of sours mix at the store and use it for any of the sours recipes. Your drink will still taste great and you won’t be disappointed.

However, you can make your own sours which is, in our opinion, superior to any premade mix in a bottle. The nice part of making your own is you can tailor the balance of sweet and sour to your own personal palette.

You only need 2 ingredients:

• Lemon Juice
• Simple Syrup

Combine the lemon juice and simple syrup in a .75:1 ratio of simple syrup to lemon juice. For a single drink we would do 3/4 oz of simple syrup and 1 oz of lemon juice. If you are making a larger amount of sours mix for multiple drinks, you just multiply as needed. For example, 9 oz simple syrup and 12oz of lemon juice will give you just over 20 oz of sours mix.

When to make them?

Rum Sours are great for any occasion, honestly. But, due to it’s warm caramel undertones, it is great relaxing next to a fire or in a smaller, more intimate, setting with friends.

What rum is best to use?

Whichever dark rum is your favorite. You can’t go wrong with Bacardi Gold, or even Bacardi 151, if you want your drink a little stiffer. But any dark rum should do just fine.

How do you make it from scratch?

This cocktail is really easy to make. In fact, as we mentioned above, you don’t have to buy a sours mix. You can make this completely from scratch.

You just need to get started is:

Rum

Lemon juice

Simple syrup

Rocks glasses (this is the set we use personally)

Ice

Jigger (we use the jigger from this set)

(optional): lemon wheel, maraschino cherries, and/or an egg white

Get all your ingredients together and start making your drink.

Step One

Fill both your glass and your shaker with ice.

Step Two

Fill your shaker with all of your ingredients. First the rum, then the lemon juice and simple syrup (or sours mix, if using that), and, if you decide to add it, your egg white.

Step Three

Make sure the lid to your shaker is on tight.

Shake up and down until the outside metal starts to frost over.

Step Four

Swap the lid with a strainer and pour the contents over the ice in your drinking glass.

Add a few maraschino cherries and/or a lemon wheel and enjoy!

Alternate Versions

Just like with the Gin Sour, you can make alternate versions of the Rum Sour just by adding or swapping an ingredient or two.

• Add in a dash of bitters.
• Top off your glass with some soda water to give it some fizz.
• Instead of soda water, try adding some sparkling wine or champagne.
• Swap out the egg white with an egg yolk for a golden version of this cocktail
• Crème de menthe will give your drink a refreshing mint taste and green color.
• Add an entire egg for a golden, frothy, cocktail.

For more great cocktails