Whiskey Sour Liqueur

Whiskey Sour Liqueur by Stork Club from the Spreewald

Whiskey Sour Liqueur by Stork Club is a liqueur made from Spreewald rye whiskey, lemon juice, and sugar, allowing you to create a Whiskey Sour without the need for fancy shaking skills. Spicy, sour, with a hint of sweetness. Not a syrup with artificial flavor, but real rye as the base.

Whiskey Sour Liqueur is a 20 percent alcohol whiskey liqueur by Stork Club from the Spreewald, made from three ingredients: rye whiskey from their own distillery, fresh lemon juice, and sugar. That is all the world's most famous sour needs.

The liqueur sits in the glass slightly cloudy and sunny yellow, because the lemon juice is not filtered. If you shake it, you can immediately see that real fruit is at work here.

Lemon, sugar, and rye in balance

The aroma is dominated by fresh lemon, followed by notes of vanilla and wood from the whiskey barrel, just as one would expect from a well-made sour.

On the palate, acidity and sweetness balance each other out, underpinned by the dry spice of the rye, which prevents the liqueur from becoming too much like lemonade. Sour, sweet, spicy—the three pillars of a good sour are already contained in the bottle.

With 20 percent alcohol, it remains tame enough for the early evening, and because the sweetness is measured with restraint, it doesn't become sticky even in the second glass. The underlying whiskey is clearly discernible without overpowering the lemon.

Shaker, ice, lemon slice

Fill a shaker with ice cubes, add the liqueur, shake vigorously, and strain over fresh ice.

Add a lemon slice, and you have a sour that would otherwise require three ingredients, a measuring cup, and some practice—and which often ends up too sweet. The liqueur also likes it more relaxed: topped with soda, it becomes a light long drink; poured over vanilla ice cream, it makes a dessert for adults. A splash of Straight Rye makes it bolder if the evening calls for more spice.

The Sour from a bottle

The idea comes from Bastian Heuser, who worked as a bartender in London and co-founded the Bar Convent Berlin.

Anyone who has spent years behind the bar knows how often a sour fails due to lack of balance, and exactly that balance is pre-crafted here. The foundation remains their own rye whiskey from Schlepzig, aged in freshly toasted American and German oak—not neutral alcohol with lemon flavoring.

The distillery in the Spreewald has belonged to Steffen Lohr, Bastian Heuser, and Sebastian Brack since October 2016, and their whiskeys have won multiple international awards since then. The liqueur represents the relaxed side of this distillery.

You can tell it comes from people who don't just drink cocktails, but have mixed them by the thousands. That is exactly why the acidity is set a notch higher than what you might find on a supermarket shelf, and the sugar a notch lower.

Serving suggestion

Keep refrigerated after opening; the liqueur will last for several weeks due to the lemon juice. Pour 6 cl into a shaker with ice, shake vigorously for thirty seconds, then strain over fresh ice. If you like, add a splash of egg white or aquafaba for a creamy foam. More bottles of this type can be found under Liqueur, and the entire Stork Club range on the manufacturer's page.