Perfectly Dry Lavender Martini
This lavender martini is flavorful and simple. It has the slightest hint of floral flavors and is tart and dry the way a good martini should be!
How To Get Lavender Flavor
For this lavender martini to get its flavor, you'll make a simple homemade lavender syrup.
This is done by boiling water and sugar together. Then, as it cools you steep dried lavender flowers in the simple syrup to flavor it. After it has come to room temperature, it is ready to store.
It is best to use culinary lavender for the syrup because it has better flavor and aroma. Unlike ornamental lavender, which most plants are, it is less bitter when made into the simple syrup.
How To Make The Martini
First, start by chilling the martini glass in the freezer. Next, remove the glass from the freezer and dip the rim into a little bit of water. Then coat the edge in granulated sugar.
Place the vanilla vodka, lemon juice, and lavender simple syrup into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously for one minute. This will chill the lavender cocktail and dilute it just a bit to make it more palatable.
Next, pour the lavender martini into the glass and garnish with a lemon swath pierced with a fresh lavender stem.
How To Garnish It
I like to go with the more classic martini garnish of lemon peel.
Use a sharp knife to shave a large piece of lemon peel away from the fruit, working hard to avoid the white pith. Give it a twist so it has some shape.
Adding the lemon peel like this makes the lavender martini a bit more vibrant by introducing the natural oils from the peel into the cocktail.
Place the lemon peel into the bottom of the martini glass and garnish with the lavender on top.
What Type Of Vodka?
I like using a high quality plain vodka for this lavender martini recipe. Ciroc and Belvedere because they both have a mild floral undertone that pairs nicely with the lavender.
Similar to a dry martini you get at the bar, this recipe focuses on a high amount of vodka with just a little something to balance it. (In this case, lemon juice and lavender syrup.)
This means that the lavender martini is very vodka forward and finishes with the lavender. Similar to a lemon drop, this cocktail isn't meant to be sweet. You'll notice more sweetness from the sugared rim than from the lavender martini itself.
Dry Lavender Martini Recipe
The sugared rim is completely optional. It helps balance the tartness of the lemon juice, but if you like a tart and dry lavender martini, feel free to skip the rim all together.
Also, I recommend serving the lemon swath garnish directly in the lavender martini. The stem of the lavender provides some of its own flavor, so having it to stir around like olives lends extra flavor to the drink.
Lemon Lavender Martini
Ingredients
- 5 ounces vodka
- 1.5 ounces lemon juice
- ¾ ounce lavender simple syrup
- pinch salt
- ice, as needed
Instructions
- Dampen the rim of the martini glass and then dip it in sugar to coat it. Chill the martini glass in the freezer.
- Use a peeler to peel a swath of lemon going around the lemon to get it as long as possible. Use a cocktail pick to poke two holes in the swath then put the lavender stem through it. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- In the bottom of a cocktail shaker, add the vodka, lemon juice, lavender simple syrup, and the pinch of salt. Fill the rest of the shaker with ice and shake vigorously for twenty seconds then strain into the chilled martini glass. Serve immediately with the lemon swath garnish.
Notes
- For the garnish, buy a lavender swag from Williams-Sonoma if you don't have fresh.
