Amaretto Sours for Ixtapa Nights

Ah, the dismal greige skyline of Manhattan. Haven’t seen you in a while. What? No, I wasn’t fake-baking! I may be living in Jersey, but bitch, pleeez. This is the real deal.

I was basking poolside all last week in Ixtapa, Mexico at Club Med Food Blogger Camp–or as we should have called it, Camp BloggaWannaMargarita.

Don’t get me wrong–we were hell-bent on soaking up the knowledge in our daily workshops, which have been well-documented by my fellow campers.

However, as part of my unofficial observation of food bloggers in the wild, I quickly began to notice a pattern in our migratory habits.

The blogger species, like its hard-bitten newspaper-reporter predecessor, loves to congregate around the bar.

And when free drinks come at all hours courtesy of the all-powerful Club Med Bracelet, the bar can be whenever and wherever the pack wants it to be.

And so we brought mugs of Sol to the afternoon workshop! Took Mojitos to the post-workshop beach gathering/daily pummeling by the Mexico surf in preparation for Greyhounds at the pre-dinner happy hour!

And of course, closed out every evening under the stars at the Miramar bar with a glass of vino rojo.

It was one of those nights at the after-dinner bar when Owen Rubin, husband to the lovely, whip-smart Dianne Jacob, suggested an amaretto sour.

I gave him the eye–god, I haven’t sipped one of those out of a tiny red straw since I turned 21–but he convinced me to give it another post-college try.

With precision, he instructed Hugo, our man behind the bar, and slid the finished product over for my review.

Hey, it was actually sour! Instead of retching from sickly amaretto overload, my mouth was puckering! What was this ambrosial nectar and could I get another?

Club Med’s house sour mix made the drink so brain-tinglingly citric, but our stateside bottled versions fail miserably at any hint of sourness, more like thawed lemonade concentrate that leaves a plasticine aftertaste.

I’m keeping it tropical by using fresh citrus juice–which also keeps the scurvy away, mind you–but you could sub in bottled lemon and lime concentrate if you absolutely must.

And not to get all bespoke mixologist on you, but through my attempts to recapture the magic at home, I’ve noticed smaller square ice cubes really do work best in this cocktail.

Larger chunks melt more slowly, but the flavors seemed meld more fully when they’re quickly chilled. Any food scientists want to help me out with another explanation?

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Amaretto Sour Cocktail

Yield: 2 drinks

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

A truly sour and fresh amaretto sour cocktail is hard to find. This is a grown-up version that's nothing like what you've tasted from a bottle.

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Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (2 fluid ounces) amaretto
• 2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) triple sec
• 2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) simple syrup
• 1/4 cup (2 fluid ounces) freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) freshly squeezed lime juice
• plain, lime, or lemon seltzer

Instructions

1. Fill 2 highball glasses with ice and set aside.
2. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and stir in the amaretto, triple sec, and simple syrup.
3. Add the lemon and lime juice and shake to combine.
4. Divide the drink between the 2 glasses.
5. Top with seltzer. 
6. Drink with wistful remembrances of swaying palms, open-air bars, and mosquito-bitten legs.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 253Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 54mgCarbohydrates: 69gFiber: 2gSugar: 37gProtein: 1g

The nutritional information above is computer-generated and only an estimate.

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