Frisco

The Frisco Sour, which is the same drink stretched out. Take the lemon up to 22 ml, add 5 ml of simple syrup, and serve it over cubed ice in a rocks glass with an orange slice. You gain refreshment and lose the concentrated, liqueur-led character.

Because this is not a sour and is not trying to be. Eight milliliters is a corrective, there to cut Bénédictine's honey and stop it coating the mouth. Take it up to 22 ml and you are making the Frisco Sour instead, which needs syrup added to hold it together.

Fifteen milliliters of Bénédictine is a lot of sugar in an 83 ml drink. Either drop the liqueur to 12 ml or take the lemon up to 12 ml, one or the other, not both. Also check your rye is at least 45 percent, since a soft 40 percent bottle can't push back.

From Bénédictine alone, which is why the ratio is so touchy. Fifteen milliliters carries roughly what a bar spoon of sugar syrup would, so there is no separate sweetener sitting there to adjust. Every correction has to come out of the lemon or out of the liqueur pour itself.

A classic Frisco calls for 60 ml (2 oz) Rye whiskey, 15 ml (0.5 oz) Bénédictine, 8 ml (0.25 oz) Fresh lemon juice. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.

A standard Frisco is roughly 40% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it spirit-forward — closer to a Martini than to a beer, so sip it slowly.

A Frisco is shaken — the rule of thumb is to shake anything with citrus juice. About 13 seconds with plenty of ice chills and dilutes it correctly.