Sweet and Sour Mix

Here’s how to make sweet and sour mix! It has the best zingy lemon lime flavor, perfect for big batch whiskey sours and margaritas.

Want to whip up lots of cocktails for a party? Try this homemade sweet and sour mix! The lemon lime flavor is so bright and zingy, you can’t help but raise your eyebrows after one sip. It makes a big batch that you can customize to drinks of all kinds. It makes a knockout margarita, and at the same time a perfect sweet tart whiskey sour. Alex and I typically make these to order, but when youre entertaining it’s so much easier to start from the mix. Here are all our secrets!

What is sweet and sour mix?

Sweet and sour mix is a lemon-lime flavored mixer used in cocktail recipes. It’s usually used for sour cocktails like a whiskey sour or amaretto sour, but you can also use it for margaritas. The sour mix ratio depends on the recipe author. We love our drinks on the tart side, so we’ve customized ours to the perfect level of sour. Here’s the sour mix ratio:

• 1 parts sugar
• 1 parts water
• 1 part lime juice
• 2 parts lemon juice

Tips for how to make sweet and sour mix

There are only a few things to know about making sweet and sour mix! Here’s what to do:

• Juice the limes and lemons. It sounds easy, but this is what takes the most time in this recipe. Use a good juicer to make quick work of it. Here’s the citrus juicer we use: it works great.
• Heat citrus juice, water and sugar just until it dissolves. You barely need to heat the mix! Just heat and whisk constantly until the sugar just dissolves.
• Cool to room temp. This takes just a few minutes.

Sour mix storage

Once you make your sweet and sour mix, you can use it right away to mix up drinks. Or you can store it! Here’s what to remember: Store refrigerated for up to 1 week. The sour mix tastes the best right away! But you won’t notice a significant difference after 1 week. Once you hit the week mark, you’ll notice the flavor starts to fade. Drink it as close to making it as possible!

We love making a big batch of this sour mix for vacation. It’s perfect for a trip to the beach or a lake house, or even for entertaining by the pool!

5 sweet and sour mix cocktail recipes!

Here’s the best part: how to make cocktail recipes with sour mix! Here are some of our favorite cocktail recipes made with sour mix:

1. Whiskey sour with sour mix

• 2 ounces bourbon
• 1 ¾ ounces sweet and sour mix

Add the bourbon and sour mix to a cocktail shaker. Fill with a handful of ice and shake until very cold. Strain the drink into a glass. Serve with ice, an orange peel and a cocktail cherry.

2. Margarita with sour mix

• 2 ounces tequila
• ½ ounce Cointreau
• 1 ounce sweet and sour mix

Rim a glass with salt. Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with 4 ice cubes and shake until cold. Strain the margarita into the glass with the salted rim. Fill the glass with ice and serve.

3. Tom Collins with sour mix

• 2 ounces gin
• 2 ounces sweet and sour mix
• ½ cup soda water
• Ice (try our clear ice!)

Add the gin and sour mix to a cocktail shaker with 4 ice cubes. Shake well until chilled. Strain the liquid into an ice filled glass, and top off the glass with soda water. Garnish with a lemon wheel and cocktail cherry.

4. Daiquiri with sour mix

• 1 ½ ounces white rum
• 1 ½ ounces sweet and sour mix
• Lime slice, for garnish

Mix in a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour into a cocktail glass. Serve garnished with a lime slice.

5. Amaretto sour with sour mix

• 1 ½ ounces amaretto
• ½ ounce bourbon whiskey
• 1 ounce sweet and sour mix

Add the bourbon and sour mix to a cocktail shaker. Fill with a handful of ice and shake until very cold. Strain the drink into a glass. Serve with ice, an orange peel and a cocktail cherry.

Is sour mix the same as margarita mix?

Not quite! Our homemade margarita mix uses only 3 ingredients and has no added sugar. To try it, head to Margarita Mix. If you want to make a large pitcher enough for 8 or 16 drinks, make a margarita pitcher instead. Go to our Margarita Pitcher Recipe.

This recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.

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