Blood Orange Gin Sour Cocktail

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Last Updated on January 11, 2024 by Leah Hall

Want a great Valentine’s Day Cocktail? Try our Blood Orange Gin Sour!

 

When it comes to cocktails we are always fans of the classics! And, there aren’t many more classic cocktails than a sour. A combination of spirit, sugar and citrus, sours are a great way to showcase fresh citrus!

 

Try out our Rhubarb Gin Sour or Blood Orange Gin Fizz, too! Or, try a Blueberry Gin Sour from our friends at All You Need is Brunch!

 

One of our favorite fresh citrus to use in cocktails is the blood orange! Blood Orange juice is a deep dark red that makes for a beautiful cocktail!

 

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Valentine’s Day Cocktails

Speaking of reds and pinks, it is the time of the year where those colors are prominently featured, Valentine‘s Day! When we make cocktails with blood orange juice one thing we can count on is that its going to end up either a striking red or a vibrant pink!

 

When you are in Valentine’s Day season, making a drink that not only appeals to your taste buds, but also your eyes!

We were juicing some blood orange and we were admiring the rich color of the blood orange juice! One of our drinkstagram friends on Instagram posted a cocktail with some amazing foam around the same time. We thought that making a cocktail with blood orange juice and topped with foam would make for one sweetheart of a cocktail.

 

Cocktails with Foam

Thinking of cocktails that are topped with foam is how we landed on a sour.

 

Wait, did we say a cocktail topped with foam? Yep we said topped with foam (and we aren’t talking about whipped cream either!) A lot of cocktails are topped with foam as a result of the ingredients used in the cocktails. They are  selected for the effect that they can have on the drink.

 

For a lot of cocktails, the foam is used as a way to enhance the visual appeal or change the texture of a cocktail.

 

What Ingredients are Needed for the Blood Orange Gin Sour?

• Gin
• Blood Orange Juice
• Lemon Juice
• Simple Syrup
• Aquafaba
• El Guapo Love Potion #9 Bitters

What is a Foam?

Well in it’s most basic form, a foam is just a liquid full of suspended bubbles. Of course, the liquid has to be able to support forming all those bubbles. So, these liquids tend to have something to help make it thicker so that it can trap the air (or in some cases gasses like carbonation).

 

This thickening agent can also result in a creamy, velvety feeling in your mouth when you sip on a foamy cocktail!

 

How do I make a foam? 

This is where we get a little nerdy and have to explore some chemistry! So, slip on your pocket protector and get ready to do a little learning!

 

One of the most traditional ways to create a foam is to add a liquid full of proteins into a cocktail right before it is shaken. So what about protein makes foam possible? Lets take a look at one of the most common methods of making a foam in cocktails, adding an egg white.

Egg White Foam

If we zoom way in and take a look at whats going on inside that egg white, you would see a whole bunch of protein molecules (which look like a bunch of strings) all tangled up together in a bundle. When we shake the cocktail, the agitation causes the protein strings to untangle and start to trap little bits of air and water in between those strings.

 

As more and more air and water gets trapped, foam forms and you get this wonderful airy and bouncy foam!

If you are Looking for More Gin Cocktails, try These!

• Rambler’s Ruby
• Mountain Pine Gin and Tonic
• Lavender Lemon Gin and Tonic Granita
• Pink Pear
• Rosemary’s Pear

 

Okay, the chemistry lesson is over! But you make ask what happens if you are vegan or just get the heebie jeebies about having a raw egg white in your drink (its really quite safe!)

 

What is Aquafaba?

You can also use a liquid called aquafaba. Aquafaba is just a fancy name for the liquid that is in a can of chickpeas. That liquid is chock full of starch and proteins, which work in the same way as an egg white, just with a nice vegan twist! Add in about two tablespoons of aquafaba in place of an egg white, when you shake your cocktail, watch a nice foam form!

Blood Orange Gin Sour

After all that chemistry, you definitely deserve a drink, so lets turn back and look at this Blood Orange Gin Sour! Traditionally sours are made with a spirit, a citrus, sugar and an egg white. For our Blood Orange Gin Sour, we decided that we were really interested in using gin as our base spirit. Gin was used because it wouldn’t change the color like whiskey would.

 

Using gin also creates a lighter, more floral character in the cocktail that can be very refreshing and interesting.

Want some other Sour Cocktail Recipes from us?

• Rhubarb Gin Sour
• Aronia Sour
• T & T Sour
• Pisco Sour
• Lilac Gin Sour

 

We also decided to try out using some aquafaba rather than the egg white because we have a friend that is not a fan of raw eggs. We also used a combination of blood orange juice and lemon juice so that we kept the drink a little more sour than it would have been with just the blood orange juice.

 

Add in some simple syrup to help balance out the sour and we had ourselves on beautiful pink hued drink!  We finished our Blood Orange Gin Sour with another little romantic touch by adding in a few dashes of El Guapo Love Potion #9 bitters!

 

These bitters had hints of roses, hibiscus and camomile which perfumed the foam with a nice hint of flowers and spices. This made it feel like giving your love a bit of a bouquet in a cocktail glass!

 

Cheers!

 

More Blood Orange Cocktails

• Bourbon Sour Blood Orange – Our Salty Kitchen
• Blood and Bourbon
• Blood Orange and Honey Thyme Cocktails – Dishing Up the Dirt
• Whiskey and Blood Orange Cocktail – A Zesty Bite of Life
• Blood Oranges on the Beach – The Shabby Creek Cottage

More Valentine’s Cocktails

• Cherry Toasted Cream Ramos Gin Fizz
• Love Martini – Picture the Recipe
• Cupid’s Cocktail – Amanda’s Cookin
• Bourbon Sweetheart
• Love is a Rose Cocktail – The Inspired Home

 

Also, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and tag #gastronomcocktails so we can see all the wonderful recipes YOU recreate from this site!

 

You can also subscribe to our newsletter so you never miss a delicious recipe again!

 

Like this recipe? Try these below, too!

Bourbon Peach Sour Cocktail

 

Grapefruit Bourbon Sour Cocktail

 

Interested in stocking your own home bar? Make sure to see our favorites at our Amazon Store!

 

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