Cocktail · Medium strength
Lemon Drop
Citrus vodka, lemon, sugar rim — candy for adults who pay taxes.
How to order it: Fresh lemon or skip it. The sugar rim is the costume; the tartness is the character.
Flavor profile
The recipe
- 2 oz citrus vodka
- ¾ oz lemon juice
- ¾ oz simple syrup
- Shake; sugared-rim coupe
- Lemon twist
The story
The Lemon Drop is generally credited to Norman Jay Hobday, who served it in the 1970s at Henry Africa's, his pioneering San Francisco "fern bar," the hanging-plants-and-Tiffany-lamps template that made bars safe for dating. Named after the hard candy, it took vodka, lemon, and sugar and aimed them squarely at drinkers the whiskey world had ignored. The citrus-vodka boom of the 1990s gave it a second act, and the sugared rim became its signature handshake. It endures because the idea is honest: it promises candy and delivers candy, with a kick the candy aisle never offered.
Adjacent pours