The non-alcoholic Whiskey Sour

The classic is two ounces of bourbon, three-quarters of an ounce of lemon juice and three-quarters of an ounce of simple syrup, often with an egg white, shaken and served on the rocks or up, sometimes with a few drops of bitters on the foam. It's a balance of three things:

• Whiskey brings caramel, vanilla and oak, plus the warmth and weight of alcohol. It's why the drink tastes like more than lemonade.
• Lemon brings the sour. Always fresh.
• Sugar balances the lemon and adds body.
• Egg white (optional) adds a silky texture and a thick foam that softens the acidity.

Without alcohol, the balance shifts:

• Use a bold whiskey alternative. It has to stand up to the lemon. Look for strong oak, spice or smoke.
• More lemon, less sugar. Most whiskey alternatives are already sweet. We use a full ounce of lemon and half an ounce of rich (2:1) syrup, which is less sugar than the classic but thicker.
• Add texture. The foam from egg white or aquafaba does a lot of the work that alcohol's weight usually does. It's worth the extra shake.
• A pinch of salt. It softens the sourness and makes the whiskey taste fuller.
• Shake hard, strain onto fresh ice. A sour needs air and chill, and fresh ice keeps it from getting watery.

We don't have a ready-made non-alcoholic whiskey sour in our catalogue yet. On a non-alcoholic whiskey sour mix: most bottled sour mixes are lemon, sugar and stabilizers, made to be cut with whiskey. Used with a whiskey alternative they're very sweet. A fresh lemon and a jar of homemade syrup take two minutes and taste much better.

The whiskey

This is the choice that matters. In a sour, the whiskey alternative needs to be bold enough to taste through the lemon, which rules out the lightest ones. The best non-alcoholic whiskey for a sour is one with strong oak, spice or smoke, and preferably some body.

• Spiritless Kentucky 74 is our pick and what our house recipe uses. It's real Kentucky bourbon with the alcohol taken out, so the caramel, vanilla and oak taste like bourbon. It holds its own against lemon better than most, and its sweetness means you can cut back on the syrup. A Spiritless non-alcoholic whiskey sour is the closest to a classic bourbon sour we know how to make.
• Monday Zero Alcohol Whiskey was made with a bourbon maker: caramel, molasses and roasted coffee, with a little orange and heat, and more body than most. The coffee and molasses come through the lemon well. It's a close second.
• Ritual Whiskey Alternative is the one to use if you like your sours bold. Smoke, caramel and a strong peppery bite make it the least likely to disappear under lemon. A Ritual Zero Proof whiskey sour has real heat at the finish, which some people love and others find too much. Try it with a touch more syrup.
• Trejo's American Whiskey Alternative is rich and warming, with oak, caramel and warm spice, and it's built for mixing. A solid, straightforward choice.
• Lyre's American Malt is sweeter and softer: vanilla, caramel, oak and a nutty note. Its body is good, but its flavor is gentler, so in a classic sour it can fade a little. It shines in our maple whiskey sour, where the maple and vanilla play off each other.
• BARE Zero Proof Bourbon Whiskey sticks close to a classic bourbon profile with a botanical edge. It's on the lighter side, so use the full two ounces or a little more.
• Spiritless Kentucky 74 Spiced adds cinnamon and baking spice to the Kentucky 74 base. It makes a spiced, apple-pie sour for colder months. Cut the syrup back, as it's sweet.

If your sour tastes like lemonade, the fix is usually the whiskey, not the ratio. Add a quarter-ounce more, or split the measure with Ritual for extra punch.

Boosting the backbone

When the whiskey alternative needs help, a few catalogue picks can add structure:

• Giffard Alcohol-Free Ginger is a bartender's ginger liqueur alternative, sweet with a warm ginger bite. A quarter-ounce in place of some of the syrup brings back the heat of alcohol. It's the base of a Penicillin-style sour.
• Seedlip Spice 94: allspice, cardamom and oak, unsweetened. A quarter-ounce adds dryness and a barrel-like spice without more sugar.
• Hella Classic Dry Aromatic Bitters & Soda: gentian, clove, allspice and star anise, bone dry. Use it as a short top for a longer, fizzier sour, closer to a whiskey collins.

The lemon and sugar

• Lemon: one ounce, fresh. It's the most important thing after the whiskey. Bottled lemon juice tastes flat and cooked.
• Sugar: rich demerara syrup, two parts sugar to one part water, gives more body than simple syrup and a toffee note that suits bourbon. Maple syrup is a good swap and makes a maple whiskey sour mocktail. Honey syrup (equal parts honey and warm water) works too.
• Adjust to your whiskey: with Lyre's, start with a little less syrup; with Ritual, a little more.

The foam: with or without egg white

Egg white gives a whiskey sour its silky texture and the thick white cap that holds a few drops of bitters. You don't need it, but the foam makes a noticeable difference in a zero-proof sour, because it adds the weight that alcohol usually supplies.

• Egg white: three-quarters of an ounce, or one small white. Use fresh eggs, ideally pasteurized if you're serving people who avoid raw egg.
• Aquafaba: the liquid from a can of chickpeas. Use the same amount as egg white. It foams just as well and tastes of nothing once shaken with lemon. It's the best egg-free option and it's vegan.
• No foam: a whiskey sour without egg white is still a classic. Shake it hard and serve it on the rocks. It's brighter and more refreshing.

The trick for foam is the dry shake: shake everything without ice for about 10 seconds to whip the foam, then add ice and shake again to chill it. Some bartenders reverse it: shake with ice first, strain out the ice, then shake again without it. Both work; the reverse dry shake tends to give a slightly thicker, tighter foam.

The garnish

The classic garnish is a few drops of aromatic bitters on the foam, sometimes dragged into a pattern with a toothpick. Use alcohol-free bitters if you avoid alcohol completely. A strip of lemon peel, squeezed over the top to release its oil, adds a bright aroma that lifts the first sip. A cocktail cherry is traditional too, especially on the rocks. Skip the orange slice and cherry "flag" if you want the drink to taste less sweet.

Spiritless Kentucky 74 for the bourbon flavor, a full ounce of lemon, rich demerara syrup and a proper foam.

If it's too tart, add a bar spoon more syrup. If the whiskey disappears, add a quarter-ounce more Kentucky 74 or split it with Ritual.

The maple whiskey sour

Maple in place of sugar, no egg, served on the rocks. It's rounder and a little autumnal, and Lyre's American Malt's vanilla suits it well.

The whiskey alternatives and supporting bottles for a sour, compared. Ratings are a rough average of reviews from around the web; see each bottle's page for the sources.

A sour is a template: spirit, citrus, sugar. Swap one part and you have another classic.

• New York Sour: float half an ounce of non-alcoholic red wine on top of a finished whiskey sour. It sits in a dark red layer and adds fruit and tannin.
• Gold Rush: honey syrup in place of sugar and no egg. Simple and very good with Spiritless.
• Amaretto Sour: Lyre's Amaretti, an almond, marzipan and vanilla amaretto alternative, in place of half the whiskey and most of the syrup. Sweeter and nuttier; keep the full ounce of lemon.
• Penicillin-style sour: replace the syrup with honey and a quarter-ounce of Giffard Alcohol-Free Ginger. Add a few drops of a smoky whiskey alternative like Abstinence Cape Malt on top for the peaty float.
• Whiskey sour with orange: replace a quarter-ounce of the syrup with Dhos Orange for an orange-peel note. It's close to a whiskey margarita.
• Old Fashioned: the same whiskey alternative, stirred with sugar and bitters instead of shaken with lemon. It's the harder drink to make zero-proof, and the better test of a whiskey alternative.
• Margarita and daiquiri: the same sour template with agave or rum instead of whiskey, and lime instead of lemon.

The whiskey sour is a staple on zero-proof menus, and many bars will make one with aquafaba if you ask. Alcohol-free bars usually have more than one whiskey alternative to choose from. A few worth the trip: