New England Sour

Whiskey, lemon, and maple — the 1862 Thomas Whiskey Sour given maple, Vermont producing 40–50% of US supply, New England orchards providing the optional cider.

The New England Sour is a regional American variation on the Whiskey Sour that incorporates maple syrup as the sweetener and sometimes fresh apple cider as a secondary element, combining two of New England's most commercially and culturally significant agricultural products with the standard sour format. The Whiskey Sour was codified by Jerry Thomas in his 1862 Bar-Tenders Guide as one of the foundational American cocktail categories, and its simplicity — spirit, citrus, sweetener — made it one of the most adaptable templates in the canon. Vermont produces more maple syrup than any other US state, consistently accounting for approximately 40-50 percent of national production; New England as a region produces the majority of American maple syrup overall. New England's apple orchards — concentrated in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine — produce both eating apples and cider apples for both fresh-pressed juice and hard cider, with fresh apple cider pressed in autumn providing a seasonal element whose malic acid and aromatic ester profile creates a different but equally valid citrus counterpart to standard lemon juice. The New England Sour became a natural seasonal menu item at craft cocktail bars throughout the northeastern United States.