This Meyer lemon drop martini is a tasty cocktail any time of the year! It's the perfect combination of sweet and tart, made fancy with a lemon peel and sugared rim.
This citrusy lemon drop martini is delicious any time of year. Anytime you see meyer lemons at your store, grab all of them and get ready to make these meyer lemon cocktails!
If you aren’t familiar with a lemon drop cocktail, it’s a simple drink to make. And it tastes just like the candy! But this one ain’t for the kids, so be careful and drink more responsiblier than normal. (If you ARE looking for one for the kids, try our Lemon Drop Mocktail).
Ingredients
- Meyer lemons - You'll need juice from the Meyer lemons to make the cocktail. Can't find Meyer lemons? No problem! Just use regular lemons instead. The cocktail will be a little more tart and slightly less floral, but that's not always a bad thing! Lemon drops are delicious no matter what type of lemons you use.
- Vodka - Just choose your favorite vodka to use in this drink! Unflavored, of course.
- Paula's Texas Orange - We LOVE Paula's Texas Orange. It's locally made in Austin, and it uses fresh ingredients. However, if you can't find some, any orange liqueur will do like Triple Sec or Cointreau.
- Sugar - You'll need this for sugaring the rim!
- Simple Syrup - Simple syrup is just sugar dissolved in water by heating it up. We like to make a batch and keep it in the fridge for cocktails! It's one part sugar to one part water.
How to make a meyer lemon drop
Making the Meyer Lemon Drop martini cocktail is so easy! We like to prep our glasses first. Get a martini glass out (or two, if you're making one for a friend)!
Run a lemon or water along the rim of the glass and then dip in sugar to get that nice sugared rim.
Voila! So pretty. Some people just like to do half the rim. I personally love the whole rim sugared.
After that, just add your lemon juice, simple syrup, orange liqueur, and gin to a shaker with ice and shake for about 20 seconds so the drink gets nicely chilled. Strain into your martini glass. Then you can garnish with a lemon peel, and enjoy!
What are meyer lemons and what do they taste like?
Meyer lemons are said to be a combination of mandarin orange and lemon, resulting in a slightly sweeter, less-acidic, fruit that smells like summer vacation. All of which combines to make a great cocktail...specifically a Lemon Drop Martini.
When are meyer lemons in season?
Meyer lemons are typically in season November-May. Look for them right alongside your regular lemons in the grocery store.
Can you make this with regular lemons?
If you can't find Meyer lemons (or just want to use regular lemons instead), you definitely can! Just substitute them out. The finished cocktail will be more tart and less floral. But we make this martini using regular lemons all the time. (Always a favorite!)
Looking for more cocktail recipes? Check out some of our favorites
- Aviation Cocktail
- Dirty Martini
- Watermelon Martini
- Hugo Spritz Cocktail
- Hemingway Grapefruit Cocktail
- Gin Sour
Meyer Lemon Drop Cocktail
Ingredients
- 2 oz vodka
- 1 oz fresh meyer lemon juice
- ½ oz Paula’s Texas Orange or orange liqueur
- ½ oz simple syrup
- granulated sugar for rim
Instructions
- Cut your lemon in half along the hemisphere for juicing, taking one of your lemon halves and running it around the rim of a martini glass.
- Gingerly dip the rim of the glass into your sugar until the rim is evenly coated.
- Add the vodka, lemon juice and simple syrup with some ice into a shaker. Now shake it. Shake, shake, shake-shake it for about 20 seconds.
- Strain into your glass and throw in some lemon peel for garnish.
Notes
Nutrition
If nutrition info is shown, values are based on an online calculator and are estimates. Please verify using your own data.
[…] Meyer Lemon Drop Cocktail. If you’re looking for a cocktail to make your friends who don’t like cocktails… try this one. It’s sweet and lemony and dangerous because you can drink five quickly and then realize you’re so tipsy. Oops. Better keep an eye on those friends. […]