To paraphrase Jimi Hendrix and the Isley Brothers, the White Lady is a foxy and sexy drink. Most sources point to one of two legendary bartenders named Harry (McElhone and Craddock) creating it in the 1920s. McElhone created a White Lady in 1919, but it didn't contain gin (his later one did). There are many variations of the White Lady, most of which I classify as either Svelte or Voluptuous (see below). I prefer Voluptuous.   

1.5 ounces gin
.75 ounces triple sec (I used Cointreau)
Juice from 1/4 lemon
.25 ounces super simple syrup
1 egg white

If you're reverse dry shaking, combine everything except the egg white in a shaker, and Shake Shake Shake Your Egg Whites. If you're dry shaking, combine everything except the ice in a shaker, shake, add ice, then shake again. After you're done shaking, strain into a chilled glass. Lemon peel garnish optional. 

So what's the difference between a Svelte White Lady and a Voluptuous White Lady?  The Svelte only has gin, triple sec, and lemon juice, and the Voluptuous has all of those ingredients plus the super simple syrup and egg white. There's certainly nothing wrong with a Svelte, but you'll get a richer and slightly sweeter taste with the Voluptuous. And the Voluptuous is unmistakably white.

While we're talking about colors, a Pink Lady is basically a White Lady with glorious grenadine instead of super simple syrup, as well as applejack, part of the Jersey Girl.  Don't let colors fool you.  Just like pink drinks, the White Lady is smooth and powerful.  The name of this cocktail reminds me of one of many hilariously offensive lines uttered in the great Mel Brooks comedy film Blazing Saddles (hint: the line from Sheriff Bart begins with "where" and ends with "at").

Do you want to honor a lady or ladies in your life?  Then you know what to drink.

Konichiwa is the Japanese word for "hello." You can't get maple syrup in Japan, but you can use Japanese whiskey and maple syrup to make a tasty drink.  I discovered the Japanese Maple, a creation from bartender Damian Windsor, in Chilled magazine, and this is my minimally adapted version.

2 ounces Japanese whiskey (I used Yamazaki 12 year old single malt)
.5 ounces maple syrup (see below)
Juice from 1/4 lemon
1 egg white

Reverse dry shake (see Shake, Shake, Shake ... Shake Your Egg Whites), or combine in a shaker with ice, shake with the dynamic atmosphere on the streets of Tokyo, and strain into a chilled glass.

The Japanese Maple is a nicely balanced drink, and it gives you ample room to experiment.  For example, you could switch the whiskey's origin and make a Scotch Maple. As the whiskey is the main star of the show, you want one strong enough to stand up to the citrus and sweet flavors, but not so strong that it overpowers everything else. Use 100% maple syrup if you can. Most maple syrup on the market is either Grade A (lighter color and flavor) or Grade B (darker color and more intense flavor). Generally speaking, when using maple syrup less is more, especially if you're using Grade B.

After you have a Japanese Maple, your taste buds and liver will use a phrase that's familiar to everyone who has heard a very specific Styx song -- domo arigato!

Who wants to drink a Millionaire? There's more than one. The Millionaire is a group of drinks that came around before and during Prohibition.  Just like other cocktail groups with the same name, e.g. the Corpse Reviver #1, the different Millionaire numbers have different base spirits and recipes.  However, there's no clear consensus about which number corresponds to which base spirit.  Here are two variations of the rye based Millionaire.

The first million:

2 ounces rye
.75 ounces Cointreau
.5 ounces glorious grenadine
1 egg white

The next million:

The first million
.25 ounces absinthe
Juice from 1/8 lemon

Whether you're making your first million or your next million, combine everything except the egg white in a shaker with ice, shake with the thrill of winning the lottery, strain everything into a glass, toss the ice from the shaker, pour the contents of the glass back into the shaker, add the egg white, shake as if your stock portfolio quadrupled in value overnight, and strain into a separate chilled glass.

The Millionaire (first million) has an appropriately rich taste.  This is due to the froth of the egg white, and the sweetness of the grenadine and Cointreau (or some other triple sec). Make this one if you and/or your favorite millionaire like drinks a little bit on the sweet side. With the next million the Millionaire develops a subtly sharp undertone. While I've used absinthe to coat the glass for a Sazerac, this is the first time I mixed it directly into a cocktail.  It works well.

While the Millionaire won't cost the same as Dr. Evil's initial extortion attempt in the first Austin Powers movie, after one or two of them, you'll definitely feel like a millionaire.

In celebration of National Amaretto Day, the Amaretto Sour pays homage to this ubiquitous liqueur. The Italian word roughly means "little bitter."  However, amaretto liqueur is quite sweet. Traditionally it's made from bitter almonds, but some versions also incorporate apricot pits. The history behind the Amaretto Sour is unknown.  The standard recipe (amaretto, lemon juice, and simple syrup, or God forbid some sour mix) is too sweet for me, so I prefer this very minor adaptation of an enhanced recipe from the renowned Jeffrey Morgenthaler.

1.5 ounces amaretto
.75 ounces bourbon (preferably at least 100 proof)
Juice from 1/2 lemon
.25 ounces super simple syrup
1 egg white

Combine everything except the egg white in a shaker with ice, reverse dry shake (see Shake, Shake, Shake your Egg Whites) with stereotypical Italian exuberance (you can put everything in the shaker all at once, but reverse dry shaking is worth the effort), and strain into a chilled glass.

As you might think, this Amaretto Sour is reminiscent of the Whiskey Sour and its variations such as the Midnight Train and the Icelandic Sour.  In some respects it also is reminiscent of the Stiletto. The bourbon keeps the Amaretto Sour from becoming overpoweringly sweet.  The egg white gives the Amaretto Sour a richer flavor and protein boost (Morgenthaler uses 1/2 of an egg white, but for me it's easier to use all of it), which makes the cocktail sort of ... healthy?

Despite it sweet base, this Amaretto Sour isn't all that sweet.  It's not bitter, it's buonissimo!

Tamarind is the fruit from the tamarind tree, which is common in South Asia and Mexico.  It is tart and sweet.  I discovered tamarind when I had it in sauces on food in Thailand.  After savoring a Tamarind Fizz at Aqimero (great drinks, gorgeous decor) at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Philadelphia, I now appreciate using it in a cocktail.  This is the adaptation I made at home.

2 ounces cachaça or light rum (see below)
1.5 ounces tamarind juice or soda
.5 ounces agave syrup or nectar
Juice from 1/4 lime
1 egg white

With tamarind juice, combine everything in a shaker with ice, shake as if you have a tart and sweet nature, and strain into a chilled glass.  Want a challenge?  Use a reverse dry shake to shake shake shake your egg whites. With tamarind soda, put the soda in a chilled glass (not the shaker; I know this is obvious but I figure I'd say it anyway), put everything else in a shaker with ice, and follow the same process.

The Tamarind Fizz has a lot of unusual ingredients.  You can get them pretty easily.  Cachaça is a clear liquor from Brazil.  It's similar to rum, but cachaça is distilled from fresh sugar cane juice and most rum is distilled from molasses (basically boiled sugar cane juice). You can find tamarind juice or soda in Asian and Latino grocery stores.  Agave nectar, an ingredient in the Kentucky Sunshine, is in many grocery stores.  Depending on how sweet the tamarind juice or soda is, you might want to cut back or cut out the agave nectar.

In a way the Tamarind Fizz is reminiscent of a Pisco Sour. Both have clear base spirits, and they include egg white and lime juice.  Of course, the big difference is pisco comes from torched Dutch grapes, and cachaça or rum comes from sugar cane.

Sometimes a little effort can lead to a big reward.  Making a Tamarind Fizz is one of those times.

The wonderful country of Iceland is the polar opposite of the person who's the subject of the Foreigner tune Cold As Ice.  As foreigners who recently traveled to Iceland, Ms. Wulf Cocktail Den and I had a great time seeing the sights and meeting people. The Icelandic Sour is my adaptation of the Whiskey Sour served at Loftid in Reykjavik.

Containing Vitamin C and protein, the Icelandic Sour is a relatively healthy cocktail.

2.5 ounces rye
1 ounce super simple syrup
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 egg white
1 dash orange bitters
1 dash aromatic or Angostura bitters

Combine everything except the egg white into a shaker, add ice, shake with the force of water cascading over the majestic Gulfoss falls in Iceland, strain everything into a glass, toss the ice from the shaker, pour the contents of the glass back into the shaker, add the egg white, shake as if you're hustling to make your connection in Keflavik airport (don't ask), and strain into a separate chilled glass.

Why the complicated preparation? The reverse dry shaking process described above works really well for any drink with egg whites, e.g. the Pisco Sour (click on the Protein category for other examples) because it enhances the flavor and results in more foam.  If you don't want to reverse dry shake, just put all of the ingredients and ice into a shaker and shake away.

The Icelandic Sour is another example of the Whiskey Sour's versatility.  Other variations include cocktails such as the Midnight Train. All of the ingredients for the Icelandic Sour are easy to obtain, and you end up with a tasty and balanced drink. 

If you want paradise, pay the price with an Icelandic Sour.

You can shake your booty all your want, but this is about eggs (sorry KC and the Sunshine Band). Some really good cocktails such as the Pisco Sour include egg whites as an ingredient.  Last year I learned about dry shaking cocktails with egg whites.  Dry shaking means you put everything in the shaker except ice, shake away, then add ice, shake some more, and strain the libation into a glass. 

Thanks to my lovely wife, aka Ms. Wulf Cocktail Den, and the Tales of the Cocktail website, I recently learned about the reverse dry shake.  Why should you care about the reverse dry shake?  Because it will make your cocktails with egg whites even lighter and tastier. 

So how do you reverse dry shake?  Click here for the article.  Basically you put everything (except the egg white) and ice in a shaker, shake, strain into a glass, toss the ice, put the liquid back into the shaker, add the egg white, shake some more, and voila! I tested the process with the Black Hat.  Even though the result didn't look different, the taste difference was noticeable and quite positive.  So get some eggs, click on the protein category on the right, pick a cocktail, and reverse dry shake!

I promised to post two bourbon cocktails this month because September is National Bourbon Heritage Month. So here we go ...... the Kentucky Sunshine comes from Marvin Allen, a respected bartender at the Carousel Bar in New Orleans.  I discovered this drink while reading his book Magic In A Shaker.

I can see clearly now.

2 ounces bourbon (you're using some from Kentucky, right?)
Juice from 1/2 lemon
.5 ounces agave syrup or nectar
1 egg white
3-4 dashes chocolate bitters (I used Bittered Sling)

Combine all the ingredients in a shaker without ice, shake with the energy of a solar flare, add ice, shake again, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Finding agave syrup or nectar shouldn't be hard.  I got some at Trader Joe's.  Finding the bitters could be tough.  They are not indispensable to the drink, but they will enhance it.

Doesn't this combination of ingredients seem bizarre?  I certainly thought so when I read the recipe.  However, having met Marvin Allen, I put my liver in the hands of a cocktail magician.  Regardless of what the weather is really like,  in the words from the Jimmy Cliff tune, once you have this cocktail it will be a bright, bright, bright sunshiny day (now the photo caption makes sense, doesn't it?).

It's refreshing, delicious, and contains 3.6 grams of protein (the amount in an egg white according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).

Pisco is a grape brandy from either Peru or Chile. The Pisco Sour originated in Peru.  In 1916 American bartender Victor Morris opened what became a popular bar in Lima, and adapting a local recipe, a Pisco Sour on the menu by 1921.

2 ounces pisco
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 ounce super simple syrup
1 egg white
3-4 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine everything but the bitters in a shaker, shake shake shake your egg whites, strain into a chilled glass, and add the bitters.

Pisco is popular enough that you can get it in liquor stores. If you order a Pisco Sour in a bar you may have to ask the bartender to add the bitters.  Not only are the bitters visually appealing, but they give the drink a nice little twist.  

I'm not going to weigh in on whether Peru or Chile has the right to claim exclusive ownership of pisco.  So which version of the Pisco Sour do I prefer?  My research indicates that the Peruvian version has egg white and bitters, but the Chilean version does not.  I love protein, so I'm going with Peru on this one.  Hope that doesn't make me persona non grata in Chile.

A black hat should be worn by a gentleman with a suit, not by a hipster who thinks he's being ironic (and doesn't understand the meaning of the word).

Hackers generally divide themselves into two camps -- white hats (those who use their skills for good) and black hats (those who do not).  Consider this dichotomy as a high tech version of the Taoist concept of yin and yang.

This cocktail is adapted from Sable Bar in Chicago:

2.25 ounces bourbon (Willett Pot Still always works)
.75 ounces super simple syrup
Juice from 1/4 a lemon
Dash of cinnamon
1 egg white
1-2 dashes Angostura bitters

One of my pairs of yin and yang cufflinks.

Combine in shaker without ice (this is dry shaking), shake like you're penetrating your enemy's network, add ice (this is wet shaking), shake again like you're a particularly nasty piece of malware, then strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a dash or two of cinnamon.

Just so we're clear, I'm not a hacker.  My technological skills are hilariously limited.  If it wasn't for my lovely and very technologically capable wife, I probably still would be using a flip phone.