Easy and Summery Lavender Lemon Drop Martini with Vodka

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This 5 ingredient Lavender Lemon Drop Martini is a perfectly refreshing, summery cocktail. A grown up version of lavender lemonade, this drink will keep you cool on the hottest summer day.

Like the Cosmopolitan, Lemon Drop Martinis arrived on the bar scene in the 1970s, making them a modern classic cocktail. And yet unlike the Cosmo, you rarely see Lemon Drops on a bar menu. Let’s give the Lemon Drop martini a bit of an upgrade and change that!

Lavender and lemon are a perfect pairing, so we’re adding lavender bitters to the classic recipe and trading out the simple syrup for lavender syrup in this delicious cocktail. This elevates a simple lemon cocktail to one worthy of a special occasion like Mother’s Day brunch or a bridal shower.

Because lavender is used in all kinds of ways, lavender drinks can sometimes come off tasting a bit like soap. Which is definitely not the delicious cocktail you were wanting! Combining lavender with lemon keeps this from happening since lemon is an equally strong flavor, is an ingredient we’re used to seeing in cocktails, and isn’t as readily used in bath products.

Ingredients

Vodka
Lavender syrup
Orange liqueur
Lavender bitters
A lemon
Sugar

How to Make a Lavender Lemon Drop Martini

Pour sugar into a shallow dish. Run a slice of lemon around the top of a martini glass. Dip the rim of the glass into the sugar. Set aside.

Combine vodka, lavender syrup, lemon juice, orange liqueur, and lavender bitters in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.

Pouring lavender syrup into a cocktail shaker. — Lavender Syrup (made blue with butterfly pea flower)

Pouring lemon juice into a cocktail shaker. — Fresh lemon juice

Shake well and strain into your prepared glass.

A lavender lemon drop martini being poured into a sugar-rimmed glass.

Enjoy!

Cocktail Tips

Make your lavender syrup ahead of time so it has time to chill in the refrigerator before you make your cocktails.
Use any kind of martini or coupe glass for serving this cocktail.
Garnish with a sugar rim, fresh herbs (like a mint leaf), a fresh lavender spring, or a little bit of dried lavender.

Making Lavender Syrup

It only takes a few steps and a little time to make your own Lavender Simple Syrup. >Get the Recipe

How to Make Your Lavender Cocktails Purple

As you can see in the ingredient picture above, dried lavender doesn’t turn the lavender syrup purple when you make it. It’s naturally a pale yellow color.

In order to have a purple cocktail like the one in the other photos on this page, you have to use a little butterfly pea flower to turn the lavender syrup blue. Then use the blue syrup in this drink, which when combined with the lemon juice, will turn violet.

Find the full instructions for how to make and color your syrup over on my lavender syrup page.

Stirring lemon juice into lavender syrup with butterfly pea flower. — Blue syrup + Yellow lemon juice = Purple drinks!

FAQs and Substitutions

Are Lemon Drop Cocktails Sour?

They shouldn’t be sour. While this cocktail is definitely more tart than sweet, the lemon juice is balanced nicely with the sweet lavender syrup and orange liqueur.

Where do you find Lavender Syrup?

You make it! Check out my instructions for making your own lavender syrup. Don’t want to make it? Look for lavender syrup - sometimes called lavender cordial - at your favorite specialty food and/or beverage store.

Do I have to use fresh lemon juice?

Yes. There’s only 5 ingredients in this cocktail, so fresh juice is important. Plan on about 1 lemon per cocktail. You will get aprox 1.5 oz of juice from each lemon, depending on their size.

What kind of orange liqueur should I use?

Any brand of triple sec or orange liqueur works in this cocktail. I like Cointreau or Grand Marnier, but feel free to use whatever brand you have on hand.

What kind of vodka should I use?

I like an unflavored vodka in this drink. My choice is a Michigan brand like Lake Life Vodka, Avani Vodka, or Long Road Vodka. You could also use a citrus vodka, like Absolut Citron, if that's what you have on hand.

Happy Hour Snack Pairings

BBQ Oyster crackers in a bowl — BBQ Oyster Crackers

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Easy Lavender Lemon Drop Martini

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This 5 ingredient Lavender Lemon Drop Martini is a perfectly refreshing, summery cocktail. A grown up version of lavender lemonade, this drink will keep you cool on the hottest summer day.