This Meyer Lemon Drop cocktail has become my favorite cocktail lately. I love Meyer Lemons and have been incorporating them in many recipes. Lemon drop cocktails are perfect with regular lemons, but believe me they’re amazing with Meyer Lemons!! This vodka cocktail is tangy, sweet and refreshing at the same time!
What is Lemon Drop?
Well, if you’ve never had a lemon drop before here’s few facts for you. Lemon drop is a vodka drink made with freshly squeezed lemon juice, vodka, simple syrup and a rimmed sugared glass.
There are so many variations of this drink. There’s a martini version, a shot version (popular in college towns) etc etc. There are versions with gin instead of vodka. I mean the lemon drop has taken so many facelifts over the years. I have seen also combinations of lemon with other fruits and even lavender to make new flavors of lemon drop.
Tips for Best Cocktail
Well, this cocktail is easy to make but these tips will help make you look like a professional bartender.
- Use real lemons. I love Meyer lemons and love making this drink with them, but you can always just make the classic lemon drop with regular lemons or a lime drop with limes. However, always use real fruits, not juice concentrate!!
- Rim the glass with sugar. It’s a small detail, that might seem insignificant but it makes a big difference taste wise. That first sip is just heaven!!
- Use a LOT of ice, a lot!! Fill the shaker with ice before adding vodka and the juice. When shaking the drink, the shaker should feel ice cold and your arm should hurt from shaking lol.
- I can’t take credit for this tip, but a friend of mine always adds lemon zest to sugar before rimming the glass. It adds to the whole aroma and experience of sipping on this beautiful cocktail.
- I love using a sweet triple sec in addition to vodka and freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice. It adds a hint of orange and elevates the flavor of the drink. Feel free to add simple syrup if you would like your drink to be sweeter.
- I am just a mom and wife that likes to entertain friends at home, so this is not a professional tip. But I can’t shake more than 2 drinks at a time, maybe a trained person can. So that’s why I say mix 1 or maximum 2 drinks at a time. Otherwise, you’ll not shake long enough or lose some details in the process.
Please drink responsibly!! This recipe is meant for people of legal drinking age!
Meyer Lemon Drop
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ozs vodka
- 2 Meyer Lemons
- 1 oz triple sec
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 cup ice
Instructions
- Add ice on the ice shaker.
- Zest one of the lemons. Peel the skin in a strip shape from the other one. Then squeeze both lemons. Set the juice, zest and peel aside.
- Add vodka, meyer lemon juice and triple sec to ice shaker over ice. Ice shaker must be cold at this point from the ice you had already added in.
- Shake for minimum a minute.
- Add sugar on a plate, mix with zest. Use one of the lemon halves to wet the rim of the coupe glass, then pass the rim of the glass over the sugar and zest.
- Pour the drink on the glass, add peel as garnish and enjoy the drink cold:)). Cheers!!
Notes
- Pick quality vodka, you’ll definitely notice a difference in your cocktail.
- Squeeze real Meyer Lemons. Lemon juice concentrate won’t taste the same.
- Feel free to add simple syrup for a sweeter drink. I’m ok with sugared rim and triple sec for level of sweetness.
Nutrition Label
Nutrition
Commonly Asked Questions FAQ
Lemon drop shots are made with vodka, lemon juice, splash of simple syrup and are served with a sugared slice of lemon.
For some people, the difference is just on the glass you serve this cocktail. If you serve it in a martini glass, they call it Lemon Drop Martini. I however like to serve the Lemon Drop on a coupe glass (more diameter on the rim to add sugar to). For some other people the lemon drop martini means the drink is made with gin and vermouth instead of vodka.
If you would like to save this recipe for later, please save the below image to your boards in Pinterest. Let me know if you have any questions in comments or feel free to tag me in social media with your version of this recipe:).
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Other Cocktail Recipes from My Blog
If you love the occasional cocktail like I do, then please feel free to browse some of my other recipes:
- Blood Orange Vodka Cocktail
- Mango, Passion Fruit Rum Cocktail
- Frozen Watermelon Margarita
- Elderflower Cocktail
- Sugared Cranberries Moscow Mule
Melissa Miller
Hi, I went to make this and squeezed out four Meyer lemons but you didn’t say how much of the lemon juice to use.
Sonila
Hi Melissa, you use the juice of 2 Meyer lemons for 1 serving of Meyer Lemon Drop.