The Blue Lagoon recipe
for your table
Fill a highball glass to the brim with ice cubes.
Pour the vodka and blue curaçao over the ice.
Top up with ice-cold lemon soda and stir gently once with a bar spoon.
Garnish with a lemon wheel on the rim and a cocktail cherry in the glass.
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The story
The Blue Lagoon is attributed to Andy MacElhone, who stood behind the bar at Harry's New York Bar in Paris in the 1960s, the same bar where the Bloody Mary and the Sidecar first saw the light of day. His idea was simple: take a vodka lemonade and make it blue. Blue curaçao, a liqueur made from the dried peel of the laraha orange from Curaçao, is clear by nature; the bright blue color is purely food coloring. That's exactly why the drink works so well: it tastes like a refreshing citrus drink, but looks like a swimming pool in the Caribbean.
The right glass
A Blue Lagoon deserves a tall, clear highball glass. The taller the glass, the better that blue color comes into its own, and the more ice it can hold, keeping this cocktail cold for a long time. Choose a size between 33 and 47 cl: at 33 cl, you get the classic proportions; at 47 cl, you can use plenty of ice without diluting your drink. Colorless, thin glass works best; tinted glass detracts from the color.
Bormioli Rocco Diamond Longdrink Glass 47 cl (6 pieces)
Arcoroc Islande Longdrink Glass 33 cl (6 pieces)
Both sets together € 35,90.
The right tools
For a Blue Lagoon, besides the glass, you use a long bar spoon, a jigger for precise measuring, long ice sticks, and cocktail picks. These are the bar tools we use ourselves; you can find everything in our bar tools & cocktail sets.
Glass set (our choice 01) + 4 bar tools together € 92,75.
What do you make a Blue Lagoon with?
For a Blue Lagoon, you need blue curaçao. Well-known bottles include De Kuyper and Bols. On each drink page, you can read the alcohol percentage, what it tastes like, which cocktails it goes with, and which glass you need.
Variations & twists
Replace the lemonade with pineapple juice and you're close to the Blue Hawaii; swap the vodka for white rum and add coconut liqueur for a tropical version. If you prefer it less sweet, use tonic instead of 7UP and a splash of fresh lemon juice. Looking for more inspiration? Browse all cocktail recipes.
Servingtip
Chill your lemonade and glasses beforehand. Pour the blue curaçao very slowly over the rounded side of a bar spoon as the final ingredient: this gives you a blue gradient from light to deep instead of one uniform color.
Good to know
The ratio in the glass
The Blue Lagoon cocktail recipe uses 4 cl vodka, 2 cl blue curaçao and 10 cl lemon lemonade, and that ratio is more important than it may seem. If you add more curaçao, the Blue Lagoon cocktail mainly becomes sweeter and the citrus loses its balance; use less, and the color remains pale. Therefore, measure with a jigger instead of by eye. Blue curaçao also varies in sweetness by brand, so taste the first glass and adjust only afterwards, rather than adding extra lemonade immediately.
What the name says and how to pour it
The Blue Lagoon drink gets its name from the image it evokes: bright blue water in a lagoon. If you're making the drink for several people, mix the vodka and blue curaçao in a pitcher beforehand and only top up with lemonade in the glass; otherwise, the carbonation will already have disappeared from your lemonade before the first glass reaches the table. A Blue Lagoon drink without a cocktail cherry is perfectly fine; the lemon slice on the rim does most of the work, because yellow and blue intensify each other in the glass.
Frequently asked questions
Which glass do you use for a Blue Lagoon?
A tall long drink glass of 33 to 47 cl. View our long drink glasses for sets in hospitality quality.
Where does the blue color come from?
From blue curaçao. This liqueur is made from dried laraha orange peel and is naturally clear; the color is added. Taste and color are therefore separate.
Can you make a Blue Lagoon alcohol-free?
Yes. Use alcohol-free blue curaçao syrup and 0.0 vodka, or leave out the vodka completely and top up with extra lemonade. The color and experience remain fully intact.
Which lemonade works best?
7UP or Sprite gives you the classic, sweet version. Want it drier? Choose bitter lemon or tonic and add half a lime.
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