Greek Drinks
Brandy Sour Recipe (Cyprus's National Cocktail)
Μπράντι Σάουρ BRAN-dee sowr · Brandy sour
In short
The brandy sour is Cyprus's unofficial national cocktail, made from Cypriot brandy, lemon squash or cordial, a dash of Angostura bitters, and topped with soda water over ice. It was created in the 1930s specifically to sidestep a British colonial ban on spirits at the time.
The brandy sour has a genuinely good story behind it. In the 1930s, under British colonial rule, hotels catering to Muslim guests from the wider region needed a way to serve something that looked and felt like a proper drink without featuring visible spirits or being an obviously alcoholic cocktail on the menu. Brandy mixed pale and long with lemon squash and soda fit the requirement, and it stuck around long after the reason for it disappeared.
It remains the drink most associated with Cyprus today, served everywhere from beach bars to smart hotel terraces, and it is genuinely easy to make well at home provided you use Cypriot brandy, which has a distinct character from French or Spanish brandies and is really what the drink is built around.
There is no cooking here and barely any technique, just the right proportions and good ice.
Key preparation steps
- Fill a tall glass generously with ice.
- Add Cypriot brandy, lemon squash and a dash of Angostura bitters.
- Top with soda water and stir gently.
- Garnish with a slice of lemon.
Why Cypriot brandy specifically
Cyprus has produced brandy commercially since the 1870s, and the local style is generally softer and slightly sweeter than French brandy, which is exactly what makes the proportions in this drink work. A sharper, drier brandy will throw the balance off.
If you genuinely cannot find Cypriot brandy, a smooth Spanish brandy is the closest reasonable stand-in, though the result will taste noticeably different from the drink as it is actually made across the island.
Lemon squash, not fresh lemon juice
This is the detail most home versions get wrong. The traditional brandy sour uses a sweetened lemon squash or cordial, not fresh lemon juice, which gives a rounder, less sharply acidic sourness than juice alone would.
A good quality lemon barley water or lemon squash, the kind sold as a concentrate to dilute, is the right base. If you only have fresh lemon juice, add a little sugar syrup alongside it to approximate the same balance, though it will not be quite identical.
Getting the proportions right
A generous measure of brandy, a larger measure of lemon squash, just two or three dashes of Angostura bitters for colour and a faint spice note, and enough soda water to lengthen it into a proper long drink, poured over plenty of ice. It should be pale amber, long, and easy to drink rather than strong and short.
Stir gently rather than shaking, since the point is a clean, lightly effervescent long drink rather than something aerated and cloudy.
Tips from my kitchen
Use lemon squash, not fresh juice
This is the detail that makes it taste like the real thing. Sweetened cordial gives a rounder sourness than fresh lemon juice alone.
Cypriot brandy if you can get it
Its softer, slightly sweeter character is what the proportions here are built around. A sharp, dry brandy throws the whole balance off.
Do not over-stir
A gentle stir keeps the soda's fizz. Stirring hard flattens the drink.
Brandy Sour Recipe (Cyprus's National Cocktail)
Μπράντι Σάουρ · by Kalliopi Andreou · updated 2026-07-31
- Prep
- 5m
- Cook
- None
- Total
- 5m
- Serves
- 1
Ingredients
Ingredients
Method
- Fill a tall highball glass generously with ice.
- Pour over the brandy and the lemon squash.
- Add the Angostura bitters.
- Top up with chilled soda water and stir gently once or twice to combine.
- Garnish with a slice of lemon and serve immediately with a straw.
Nutrition, per 1 cocktail
- Calories
- 142
- Protein
- 0 g
- Carbs
- 14 g
- Fat
- 0 g
- Sat fat
- 0 g
- Fibre
- 0 g
These figures are calculated estimates based on the ingredients listed, not laboratory analysis. Actual values vary with brands, cuts and portion size.
Frequently asked questions about Brandy sour
Why is the brandy sour Cyprus's national drink?
It was invented in the 1930s in Cypriot hotels as a way to serve a proper-tasting long drink to guests from regions where spirits were expected to be less overtly present on the menu, under British colonial rule at the time. It has remained popular ever since.
Can you make a brandy sour without Cypriot brandy?
A smooth Spanish brandy is the closest reasonable substitute, though Cypriot brandy's softer, slightly sweeter profile is genuinely part of what makes the classic proportions work.
What is the difference between a brandy sour and a whisky sour?
A whisky sour is built on fresh lemon juice and sugar syrup shaken with the spirit. A Cypriot brandy sour uses sweetened lemon squash rather than fresh juice, is stirred rather than shaken, and is lengthened with soda water into a long drink.
