What’s the drink?

A lemon drop is a vodka-based cocktail that has a lemony, sweet and sour flavor, prepared using lemon juice, triple sec and sometimes simple syrup. It has been described as a variant of, or as “a take on”, the Vodka Martini, but is in actual fact a closer to a White Lady variant. It is typically prepared and served straight up – chilled with ice and strained.

The drink was invented in the 1970s by Norman Jay Hobday, the founder and proprietor of Henry Africa’s bar in San Francisco, California. Some variations of the drink exist, such as blueberry and raspberry lemon drops.

The glass may be prepared with a sugared rim (rather than adding simple syrup), performed by dipping the rim of the glass in water or lemon juice and then dipping it into a rimmer (a shallow tray used in bartending), filled with sugar.

Ingredients

  • 1 part Absolut Lemon Vodka
  • 1 part fresh Lemon Juice
  • 1/2 part Triple Sec

Fill a shaker with ice cubes, add all ingredients and shake. Strain into a chilled Martini glass which has been rimmed with sugar using the leftover lemon to make it stick.

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