Sour · Anytime · Summer

Lemon Drop Martini

Vodka, triple sec and lemon shaken cold and served up. Sweet-tart and unapologetically easy to drink.

Base: Vodka
Glass: Martini glass
Method: Shake
Strength: 40% ABV

Ingredients

30 mlVodka1 swap
Any neutral vodkahigh
Little change
20 mlTriple Sec1 swap
Cointreauhigh
Similar, a little drier
15 mlFresh Squeezed Lemon Juice1 swap
Fresh lime juicemedium
A touch sharper

How to make

Technique

Shake · 10–15s

Shaking chills the drink fast while adding dilution and a light texture.

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice.
Shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Serve

Glass

Martini glassAlso fine: Coupe glass, Nick & Nora glass

Garnish

Lemon twistTwist it skin-down over the glass, then run it round the rim.

Taste & nutrition

40%ABV

201kcal

2.56Drinks

StrengthSpirit-forward

Sweet to dryBalanced

Estimated from ingredient amounts and assumed ABVs — not a lab measurement.

Good to know

Use freshly squeezed juice — bottled tastes flat.

History

Year1970s

PlaceSan Francisco, USA

Created byAttributed to Norman Jay Hobday

A tart, sugar-rimmed drink of vodka, triple sec and lemon, the Lemon Drop grew out of a 1970s San Francisco original by Norman Jay Hobday at Henry Africa's. It found real popularity in the 1990s as the "alternatini" trend took hold. Essentially liquid lemon candy, it is sweet-sour and approachable. It remains a crowd-pleasing, dessert-leaning classic.

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