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    You are here: Home » Meal Type » Cocktails » Bourbon Sour Blood Orange Cocktail

    Bourbon Sour Blood Orange Cocktail

    March 22, 2018 By Danielle Esposti 18 Comments

    May contain affiliate links.See our Privacy Policy and disclosure.

    Go to Recipe
    A blood orange cocktail is the perfect celebration of winter's best cocktail flavors. Embrace the bitter notes of fresh blood oranges paired with smokey, sweet bourbon in this blood orange bourbon sour. This winter bourbon cocktail is so easy to make, super refreshing, and strikes the perfect balance between sweet and bitter.

    It’s the winter that will never end, and this Blood Orange Bourbon Sour is the best way to sip your way through it! Instead of fighting the lion, let’s celebrate winter’s best flavors with this sweet and bitter blood orange cocktail.

    Jump to:
    • How to Make a Bourbon Sour Blood Orange Cocktail
    • Recipe

    The first day of spring welcomed us with giant, frigid arms and buckets of snow. “In like a lion, out like a lamb”? Please, yes.

    The upside to mid-week snow days is that it’s completely acceptable to cozy up with books, blankets, and a blood orange cocktail while you put off everything else (and if you’re doing that on non-snowy days too, I salute you).

    Blood oranges are a tricky citrus. They taunt you with their gorgeous crimson flesh and variegated speckled rind, but then you take a big bite and….hello bittertown. Like March, they need to be tamed. For salads, I like to salt slices of blood oranges to draw out the bitter and reveal the sweet.

    But drinks are a different story. Bitter cocktails like the Negroni, Old Fashioned and Boulevardier are enjoying quite the renaissance, and I’m only too happy to indulge in that trend. A blood orange cocktail is the perfect way to celebrate the sharp sour notes of fresh blood oranges, and the bourbon sour is a natural companion. Let’s get sippin’, shall we?

    How to Make a Bourbon Sour Blood Orange Cocktail

    This blood orange cocktail is as straightforward as they come. Stir, pour, garnish and sip. It doesn’t get any easier than this. Would you rather watch a slideshow? Check out our web story!

    You’ll need an ounce of fresh squeezed blood orange juice for one cocktail. Give the blood oranges a little roll on the counter to break up the flesh and release the juices. Then slice in half and use a reamer or the tines of a fork to juice the orange into a small bowl. If you’re making these cocktails for a crowd and need a large volume of fresh juice, we love our electric citrus juicer.

    Our liquor of choice for this cocktail is bourbon, specifically Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon. It’s sweet and smokey, and a natural foil for it’s sour cocktail companions. It’s also widely available, and it won’t break the bank.

    Pour the blood orange juice, bourbon, and some sour mix into a cocktail shaker, stir, and pour over ice. I make homemade sour mix using simple syrup (see recipe notes), lemon juice, and lime juice in a 2:2:1 ratio. For ease you can certainly use pre-made sour mix, but know that it’s sweeter than the homemade stuff.

    Cam and I love these giant ice cubes for bourbon-based cocktails in particular, where you want to be able to slow sip and enjoy the cocktail without a ton of dilution.

    I garnish these guys with a slice of blood orange and a maraschino cherry. You have my permission to skip the orange slice, but do keep the cherry. Not only is it classic, but eating that guy after it’s marinated in a blood orange cocktail for awhile is literally the cherry-on-top delight.

    Two bourbon sour blood orange cocktails on a cement background with a cocktail shaker and maraschino cherries in the background.

    Did you make this Bourbon Sour? I’d love to know how it turned out! Leave a comment and a rating below.

    While you’re at it, let’s be friends – follow me on Pinterest and Instagram for the latest and greatest.

    Recipe

    A blood orange cocktail is the perfect celebration of winter's best cocktail flavors. Embrace the bitter notes of fresh blood oranges paired with smokey, sweet bourbon in this blood orange bourbon sour. This winter bourbon cocktail is so easy to make, super refreshing, and strikes the perfect balance between sweet and bitter.

    Blood Orange Bourbon Sour Cocktail

    4.56 from 9 votes
    Author: Danielle Esposti
    Print Recipe Rate this Recipe Pin Recipe
    A blood orange cocktail is the perfect celebration of winter’s best cocktail flavors. Embrace the sharp, sour notes of fresh blood oranges paired with smokey, sweet bourbon with this blood orange bourbon sour.
    Prep Time: 10 mins
    Total Time: 10 mins
    Servings : 1
    Calories: 270

    Recommended Equipment

    • Reamer
    • Cocktail Shaker

    Ingredients

    • 1 oz blood orange juice
    • 2 ¼ oz bourbon
    • 1 oz simple syrup
    • 1 oz lemon juice
    • ½ oz lime juice
    • 1 maraschino cherry

    Instructions

    • Roll a blood orange back and forth on a cutting board a few times to break up the flesh and release the juices. Cut the orange in half, then juice using a reamer or the tines of fork. 
    • Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour 1 oz blood orange juice, bourbon, simple syrup, lemon juice, and lime juice into the shaker. Stir until the shaker frosts.
    • Place 1 large ice cube into a cocktail glass. Pour the blood orange cocktail into the glass and garnish with a blood orange slice and a maraschino cherry. 

    Notes

    How To Make Simple Syrup:
    Combine 2 parts sugar to one part water in a small saucepan and heat over medium high heat, whisking frequently until the sugar is dissolved and the solution is clear. Remove from heat and cool. Simple syrup keeps in the fridge in a sealed container for at least 2 months. 

    Nutrition Information

    Calories: 270kcal (14%)
    Did you make this recipe?Mention @oursaltykitchen or tag #oursaltykitchen!

    Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means we receive a small commission if you make a purchase using these links. Rest assured, we only endorse products we own and truly love! 

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    Disclaimer: This post and the recipe card may contain affiliate links, which means we receive a small commission (at no cost to you!) if you make a purchase using these links. Rest assured, we only endorse products we own and truly love!

    18 Comments
    Filed Under: Cocktails, Winter Recipes

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Andy

      June 25, 2019 at 8:47 pm

      5 stars
      I just made this cocktail for the first time, and I really enjoyed it. The balance of bourbon and citrus works quite well–no one flavor is overpowering. If you like your drinks a bit less sour, you’re probably not thinking of trying this recipe, but if you were, I would imagine you could reduce the lemon juice to 1/2 oz or maybe cut 1/4 oz off both the lemon and lime juice.

      Reply
    2. Nataly

      April 12, 2020 at 7:28 pm

      5 stars
      LOVE! Easy to make. Its the adult version of sour candy

      Reply
    3. Julie Budnik

      May 02, 2020 at 11:15 am

      5 stars
      This thing is addictive.

      Reply
    4. Gail Van Brunt

      September 28, 2020 at 6:26 pm

      5 stars
      Blood oranges in at Whole Foods so I came right home and mixed up this cocktail–so delicious, made exactly as you specified!

      Reply
    5. Rachel

      January 15, 2021 at 9:52 pm

      5 stars
      Really great cocktail!! Truly. Delicious. ! I make my simple syrup with equal parts water and sugar. I think if I made it the way this recipe suggests (1:2 water:sugar) it would have been too sweet.

      Reply
    6. Clara

      March 01, 2021 at 8:50 am

      This was undrinkably sweet. I ran out of blood oranges or would have tried it again with a half ounce of simple syrup, or maybe even less.

      Reply
      • Azza

        April 06, 2021 at 2:25 pm

        I made it with 1/2 oz of 1:1 simple syrup and it was perfect for my taste.

        Reply
    7. Jenny

      April 24, 2021 at 6:50 pm

      5 stars
      I love this. I make it with Buffalo trace. So good.

      Reply
    8. Your ads

      January 01, 2022 at 6:09 pm

      1 star
      Terrible website

      Reply
      • nogo

        April 11, 2022 at 5:49 pm

        This rating should be for the recipe, not the website.

        Reply

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