Blueberry Lemon Drop Martini

You can't go wrong with a Lemon Drop, and this Blueberry Lemon Drop martini recipe is no exception! Fresh blueberries gives this tasty drink a burst of fresh flavor without making it overly sweet. It's such a good martini for summertime!

This is a great pick for any summer cocktail hour! I used blue sanding sugar on the rim to make it festive for holidays like Memorial Day and the 4th of July in the US. If you want to keep it simple, just use plain sugar on the rim.

If you love this martini recipe, you'll definitely want to check out the tasty Limoncello Martini recipe, this decadent Strawberry Lemon Martini, or the delicious pink lemonade-flavored Pink Whitney Martini! Or, the Blueberry Gin Sour is another tasty blueberry and lemon cocktail for gin lovers.

For some other tasty drinks for Independence Day, try the Red, White and Blue vodka cocktail, or the super easy Blue Gin & Tonic!

Ingredients

To make the Blueberry Lemon Drop, you'll need:

• Vodka
• Cointreau liqueur (or Triple Sec)
• Fresh blueberries
• Lemon juice
• Lemon bitters (optional)
• Garnishes (optional): more blueberries, a lemon slice and sugar for the rim of the glass

Substitutions

Instead of plain vodka, you can use a flavored citrus vodka instead. Or, try using gin or white rum if you don't have either of those.

If you don't have Cointreau, you can sub it out for a simple syrup, or even maple syrup.

To add more blueberry flavor and sweetness, try adding a little blueberry syrup (around ¼ ounce/7.5 ml). You can use the syrup in place of the fresh blueberries, too, if you don't have any berries around.

Variations

If you want to make this drink Keto friendly, all you will need to do is switch out the Cointreau for your favorite sugar-free sweetener. If you want to use the sugar rim, try out a sugar substitute like allulose for the rim.

For a non-alcoholic version of this drink, swap out the vodka for a non-alcoholic spirit. Seedlip Notas de Agave would be a good one to try! You can sub out the Cointreau for a blueberry syrup or regular simple syrup.

Want to change up the flavor? Try using a mix of berries instead of just blueberries, or squeeze in a little fresh orange juice along with the lemon for a sweeter drink.

You can also serve this drink long, which means in a tall glass over ice, topped with some seltzer or lemon-lime soda. Delicious and refreshing!

Equipment

This is a shaken cocktail, so you'll need to grab a cocktail shaker and strainer, as well as a jigger to measure the ingredients. You'll also need a muddler for the blueberries.

For the serving glass, a martini glass works perfectly and lets you get a lot of sugar on the rim! You can also use a stemmed coupe glass.

For the fresh blueberry garnish, a cocktail pick (or toothpick if you don't have one) works great and keeps the blueberries neat on the side of the drink.

Definitely check out  A Bar Above if you need any new cocktail equipment! You can get 10% off on their site using my discount code, LKDrinks. Their bar tools are awesome and dishwasher safe!

Instructions

Start out by making your garnishes if you're using them. Add the blueberries to a cocktail pick, and cut a slice of lemon for the glass rim.

For the sugared rim, you can wet the rim of the glass with either the cut lemon or some water. Then, dip the rim into a small dish filled with the sanding sugar to coat it all the way around.

Add the blueberries to your cocktail shaker and use your muddler to smash them up.

Then, add the lemon juice, Cointreau and vodka to the shaker.

Add in a dash of lemon bitters (optional, but recommended!) before you fill the shaker with ice.

Seal the shaker and shake vigorously, about 15-20 hard shakes, before straining the drink into the prepared glass.

Add the optional lemon slice and blueberry garnish, and serve.

Hint: To keep the drink super cold, try refrigerating all of the ingredients before you mix it up. You can even refrigerate the glass after you've added the sugar rim.

Top tip - Party prep

If you want to make a bunch of these drinks for a party, I definitely recommend adding the sugar to your glass rims ahead of time! Also, get your garnishes all ready to go so you don't have to make them during the party.

You can make a big batch of the drink ahead of time instead of one by one. Start by mashing all of the blueberries in a pitcher. If you're having trouble mashing all of the blueberries, try using a potato masher instead of the muddler.

Then, add all of the liquid ingredients, plus ½ ounce of water per cocktail (this takes the place of shaking with ice). Stir everything up and chill it in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes, until you're ready to serve.

You can either strain out the blueberries as you pour it into the glass, or strain the mixture from your mixing pitcher into a clean pitcher to get out the blueberry skins.