A tropical drink fit for the dead of winter. It’s easy to make your own sour mix, in this case a Passion Sour, using sweet and tart winter passion fruit, with a heck of a lot less sugar than most recipes call for. One of my favorite herbal-sugar making techniques, pulverizing the sugar, herbs, zest and spices with your fingers, creates a concentrated, flavor-filled sugar. Vanilla and lavender add warm winter notes to the tropical flavors.
Hanson of Sonoma’s Double Barrel Single Malt Whiskey’s delicate sweet barley notes complement the perfumed nature of the passion fruit.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ vanilla bean, scraped, seeds and pod reserved
- 1 packed teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 packed teaspoon orange zest
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh lavender flowers, or 1 teaspoon dried
- 1½ cups water
- ¾ cup orange juice
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 3 passion fruits, halved
- 1½ ounces whiskey
- 1½ ounces Passion Sour Mix
- 1 passion fruit (cut into 2 pieces, 1 large than the other)
- Lavender Honey Bitters
Preparation
FOR THE PASSION SOUR MIX
Combine the sugar, vanilla seeds and pod, lavender flowers, lemon and orange zest in a shallow, medium-sized bowl. Using your fingers, rub the ingredients together, pulverizing the zest, vanilla and lavender into the sugar. The sugar will turn a yellowish hue from the oils in the zest.
Place the flavored sugar in a medium saucepan. Add the water and citrus juices. Scoop out the passion fruit pulp, seeds and all, and add it to the saucepan.
Bring the sour mix to a boil, stirring to break up the passion fruit (it can be a little stringy where the pulp attaches to the seeds). Once the sour mix comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer just until all the sugar dissolves. Do not overcook. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.
Using a fine-mesh strainer, strain the liquid into a clean vessel. Press down on any undissolved passion fruit pulp with the back of a spoon to extract as much of the liquid as possible. Discard the solids and place the liquid in the refrigerator until ready to use.
FOR THE PASSIONATE WHISKEY SOUR
Pour the whiskey and Passion Sour mix into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Spoon out the pulp from the larger piece of the passion fruit (seeds and all) and add it to the shaker. Shake vigorously for 35 to 45 seconds. Strain the drink into a chilled rocks glass (6–8 ounces), filled with ice. Place a few drops of the Honey Lavender Bitters on top. Float the smaller piece of the passion fruit on top, as garnish.
About this recipe
NOTE
For these recipes, I use the handcrafted bitters made by Petaluma’s Monarch Bitters. These are available at local spirit sellers and at the producer’s own new Monarch Apothecary, but feel free to experiment with other brands, or make your own.
