Lemon Drop Shot

A pucker-then-sweet shooter: vodka shaken hard with fresh lemon juice and a touch of simple syrup, fired off cold into a sugar-rimmed shot glass and chased with a bite of lemon. It descends from the Lemon Drop cocktail, invented by Norman Jay Hobday at his San Francisco fern bar Henry Africa's in the 1970s and named for the candy it mimics. By the early 1990s the drink had shed its martini glass for a shot glass, becoming the bar-staple shooter that balances bright sour against a candied edge.

ShotClassic

Ingredients

  • 1 ozVodka
  • 0.5 ozLemon Juice
  • 0.25 ozSimple Syrup

Garnish: Sugar Rim, Lemon Wedge

Preparation

Shaken · Shot Glass · None

  1. 1.

    rinse

    Moisten the rim of a shot glass with lemon and coat it in sugar.

  2. 2.

    add

    Add the vodka, lemon juice, and simple syrup to a shaker with ice.

  3. 3.

    shake

    Shake well until cold.

  4. 4.

    strain

    Strain into the sugar-rimmed shot glass.

  5. 5.

    garnish

    Serve with a lemon wedge to suck after the shot.

Flavor Profile

dilution
29%
citrus
28%
sour
25%
heat
22%
sweet
13%
fruity
9%
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