The foam catches the porch light -- a perfect white pillow floating on pale gold, three drops of bitters drawn into a tiny heart by someone who has had exactly two cocktails.

There is a reason the sour has outlasted almost every other cocktail format. It is balanced. It is forgiving. And when you use a spirit as clean as moonshine, every element gets to shine. The lemon juice brings the snap. The simple syrup rounds the edges. And the egg white -- if you choose to use it -- turns the whole thing into something silky and elegant, the kind of drink that makes people pause mid-sip and ask what you just handed them.

Skip the egg white and you have a bright, punchy sipper that works just as well over ice in a rocks glass. Add it and you have a drink that belongs in a coupe, bitters art and all. Either way, you are building on a template that has been perfected over two centuries. Moonshine just makes it Montana.

Make one for yourself. Then make one for whoever is sitting closest. This drink was meant to be passed around.