Lemon Drop Martini
A Lemon Drop Martini is 30ml of vodka, 20ml of triple sec and 15ml of fresh lemon juice, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe with sugar on half the rim, finished with a lemon twist. About 2.0 UK units. The measures are the IBA’s; the sugar rim and the twist are ours. The Oxford Companion says it was invented in San Francisco by Norman Hobday, owner of Henry Africa’s, one of the genre-defining fern bars of the 1970s, and that the original was a more elegant drink than the vodka shot it later became, served up in a sugar-rimmed cocktail glass. Despite the name it is not a Martini. Spirit, orange liqueur and lemon make it a sour of the Sidecar and White Lady kind. Triple sec is the only sweetener in the liquid, so the drink is sharp, and the sugar on the rim adds sweetness at the lip as you drink.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: Lemon twist
Ingredients
30ml
A clean vodka at 40% ABV; the IBA calls for plain vodka. A citrus vodka adds more lemon and works too.
20ml
Cointreau, which gives 40% Alc./Vol. on its own page, or another triple sec at about that strength. It is the only sweetener in the liquid and adds orange under the lemon.
15ml
Squeezed the same day. Lemon is the drink’s main flavour, so bottled juice shows straight away.
Half rim
Caster sugar on half of the outside rim. It sweetens each sip at the lip, and the bare half lets you taste the drink without it.
Instructions
Squeeze the lemon juice the same day.
Rim half a chilled coupe: run a lemon wedge around the outside edge, then roll that half through caster sugar.
Add the vodka, triple sec and lemon juice to a shaker.
Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Double strain into the prepared glass.
Express a lemon twist over the surface and drop it in.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification; half sugar rim and lemon twist ours; method ours). Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Rim the glass before you shake, and only half of it. Run a lemon wedge around the outside edge and roll that half in sugar, keeping sugar off the inside so it does not fall into the drink. Half a rim lets you choose, sip by sip, whether to take the sugar. Use a triple sec at 40% ABV, such as Cointreau, whose own page gives 40% Alc./Vol. There is no syrup to adjust, so the triple sec sets the balance, and the weaker, sweeter bottles turn the drink sugary. Squeeze the lemon the same day and shake hard. With three ingredients, a flat juice or a lazy shake shows at once.
Behind the Lemon Drop Martini
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
The Oxford Companion says Norman Hobday, owner of Henry Africa’s, arguably the first and certainly one of the genre-defining fern bars, invented the Lemon Drop in San Francisco, among the mixed drinks of the Tiffany-lamp and greenery-filled world of the 1970s fern bar.
The Companion says Henry Africa’s used good spirits and fresh juices to order, so the original would have used freshly squeezed lemon juice. It says the drink later devolved to a simple chilled vodka shot served with a sugar-coated lemon wedge, and became a staple of Harry Denton’s Starlight Room in San Francisco, owned by a former Henry Africa’s bartender.
The Sugar Rim
The liquid has no syrup. Twenty millilitres of triple sec against 15ml of lemon is all the sweetening, so the drink on its own is sharp.
The rim adds sugar in a different way. Dissolved sugar is the same in every sip; sugar on the rim reaches you first, at the lip, before the acid. Half a rim gives you both versions in one glass.
The Family It Belongs To
Spirit, orange liqueur and citrus is the shape of the Sidecar and the White Lady. Change the spirit, change the citrus, and you move between them.
The Lemon Drop beside three sours of the same shape
Lemon Drop Martini (ours)
- Spirit
- 30ml vodka
- Triple sec
- 20ml
- Citrus
- 15ml lemon
- UK units
- About 2.0
Sidecar
- Spirit
- 50ml cognac
- Triple sec
- 20ml
- Citrus
- 20ml lemon
- UK units
- About 2.8
White Lady
- Spirit
- 40ml London Dry gin
- Triple sec
- 30ml
- Citrus
- 20ml lemon
- UK units
- About 2.8
Kamikaze
- Spirit
- 45ml vodka
- Triple sec
- 22.5ml
- Citrus
- 22.5ml lime
- UK units
- About 2.7
| Drink | Spirit | Triple sec | Citrus | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lemon Drop Martini (ours) | 30ml vodka | 20ml | 15ml lemon | About 2.0 |
| Sidecar | 50ml cognac | 20ml | 20ml lemon | About 2.8 |
| White Lady | 40ml London Dry gin | 30ml | 20ml lemon | About 2.8 |
| Kamikaze | 45ml vodka | 22.5ml | 22.5ml lime | About 2.7 |
How to Serve It
Rim first, shake hard, double strain into the prepared coupe, and express a lemon twist over the top. It is a small drink, so serve it very cold and drink it before it warms.
For vodka with lime instead of lemon, make a Kamikaze; for citrus vodka with cranberry, a Cosmopolitan.
Make it at home
The Spirit
VodkaVodka is spirit made from a farmed crop, usually grain or potatoes, distilled and refined so that the taste of that crop is deliberately reduced. Under the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008 its minimum is 37.5% ABV and it may not be given a predominant flavour, which separates it from flavoured vodka and from gin; our recipes count it at 40%. In a mixed drink it adds strength and body while the other ingredients carry the taste.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Lemon Drop Martini?
Where does the Lemon Drop come from?
Is a Lemon Drop really a Martini?
Why the sugar rim?
Citrus vodka or plain?
Can I add sugar syrup?
How strong is a Lemon Drop Martini?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Martin Cate), “Lemon Drop” (secondary source: invented in San Francisco by Norman Hobday, owner of Henry Africa’s; the original served up in a sugar-rimmed cocktail glass, later a vodka shot; Harry Denton’s Starlight Room).
- Cointreau, “Cointreau Triple Sec” (maker’s own page: Cointreau Liqueur, 40% Alc./Vol.).
You Might Also Like
Cosmopolitan
A Cosmopolitan is 40ml of citrus vodka, 15ml of Cointreau, 15ml of fresh lime juice and 30ml of cranberry juice, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with an orange twist. About 2.2 UK units. The measures are the IBA’s. The Oxford Companion says the Cosmopolitan has a confused and contested history, that most claims lack supporting evidence, and that the recipe served worldwide was most likely formulated in 1988 by Toby Cecchini at the Odeon in New York, with Absolut Citron, Cointreau, fresh lime and cranberry, after a cruder San Francisco drink of the same name that the San Francisco Chronicle called “a Kamikaze with cranberry juice” in 1987. Cecchini told Punch the same year, 1988. Under the colour it is a sour: vodka, orange liqueur and lime, with cranberry for tint and a little extra acid. Made with fresh lime and served very cold, it is tart and dry, a long way from the sweet pink drink of its reputation.
Appletini
An Appletini is 45ml of vodka, 30ml of sour apple schnapps and 15ml of fresh lemon juice. Shake it hard with ice for 10 to 12 seconds, double strain it into a chilled martini glass and rest a thin slice of apple on the rim. About 2.3 UK units. Difford’s Guide says it was created on 4 July 1996 at Lola’s in West Hollywood, when the owner asked the bartender Adam Karston to mix Ketel One vodka with DeKuyper Pucker Sour Apple Liqueur, and that it began as the Adam’s Apple Martini. In our view it became one of the drinks that defined the flavoured martini years, and later a joke about them. Made with sour apple schnapps and fresh lemon and served very cold, it is a sour: tart green apple against lemon, with the vodka giving it strength. The versions that earned the jokes left out the lemon and arrived warm.
Kamikaze
A Kamikaze is 45ml vodka, 22.5ml triple sec and 22.5ml fresh lime juice, shaken hard and strained into a chilled coupe with a lime wheel. It is a vodka sour sweetened with orange liqueur, at about 2.7 UK units, and the same mix divided between shot glasses is the Kamikaze shot. The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails gives no creator and says the drink emerged in the United States in the mid-1970s. The IBA listed it, at equal parts of each ingredient, until 2020. The 45ml pour here gives the vodka more room and makes a drier drink. Fresh lime is what matters. The sticky, sweet Kamikaze people remember was made with sour mix; with real lime the same three ingredients make a clean, sharp sour.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026