Blue Dolphin Martini

The Blue Dolphin Martini is a martini-style vodka cocktail made with vodka, blue curaçao, and peach schnapps. Vodka is the main spirit, with smaller amounts of blue curaçao and peach schnapps adding subtle sweetness, fruit, and a hint of citrus.

Its signature is a vivid, almost neon blue color gives the drink a sense of playfulness. But make no mistake: the Blue Dolphin Martini is a spirit-forward cocktail, stirred with ice and strained into a chilled cocktail glass.

Spirit-forward, sweet and subtlety fruity. The peach schnapps takes center stage with a soft, fruity sweetness, while the blue curaçao brings orange-citrus notes that keep things bright. Absolut Vodka ties everything together as the bold, clean base.

The exact history and origin of the Blue Dolphin Martini is unknown. It is, however, very similar to the Bikini Martini, which was created in London in the late ’90s.

Both drinks are made with peach schnapps and blue curaçao, but the Bikini Martini uses gin while the Blue Dolphin Martini is made with vodka.

It’s likely the Blue Dolphin Martini appeared soon after the Bikini Martini, probably in the early 2000s.

• Pre-chill your glassware
  Pop a martini glass in the freezer before you start mixing. The drink stays colder longer, and a frosty glass just looks the part.
• Stir to perfection
  Spirit-forward drinks are usually stirred for a silkier texture and more controlled dilution. Although the Blue Dolphin Martini can be made as a shaken cocktail, we prefer it stirred.

  When stirring, keep going until you hit the level of dilution you like. How can you tell? Taste a few drops off the back of your bar spoon – if it tastes balanced to you, it’s ready to serve. If not, keep stirring.

• Shaken version
  If you prefer your cocktails with more dilution, make the Blue Dolphin Martini in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shaking introduces more water and air, making the cocktail slightly lighter, more blended, and a little cloudier in appearance. It softens the edges and pulls the flavors together, but you lose some of that stiff martini experience.

  If you shake it, be sure to double-strain your cocktail. Shaking leaves tiny ice shards that cloud the drink and keep watering it down in the glass. A fine strainer solves that cleanly.

• Bikini Martini
  Created by legendary London bartender Dick Bradsell, who also invented the Espresso Martini among other drinks, the Bikini Martini is essentially a Blue Dolphin Martini made with gin. It combines gin, blue curaçao and peach schnapps for a fruity, herbal, spirit-forward martini. Discover the recipe for a Bikini Martini.

• Always serve the Blue Dolphin Martini in a chilled cocktail glass or martini glass. Stemware is the way to go here. After all, you want to show off that neon-blue color.
• Although our recipe for the Blue Dolphin Martini does not have a garnish, if you want to add a finishing touch to your drink, whatever you choose, the vivid blue color is the star, so keep the garnish simple enough to let it shine through.
• To garnish, recommend an orange-peel twist, orange slice or orange wheel, all of which plays nicely with the blue curaçao.
• For something a little more decorative, a slice of peach, a lemon-peel twist, or even a sugar rim are great options.
• Alternatively, two fresh cherries or a maraschino cherry work well and complement the drink’s sweet, fruity flavors.

The vivid blue comes from the blue curaçao, which is typically colored with artificial food coloring. The color is very much by design, not from any natural blue ingredient.

Yes, curaçao liqueurs are orange-flavored liqueurs made from bitter orange peels infused in neutral spirit. The blue color is added separately and has nothing to do with the flavor. The flavor base is orange-citrus all the way, which is why blue curaçao works so well alongside peach schnapps in this drink.

The only difference is a Blue Dolphin Martini is made with vodka, whereas a Bikini Martini is made with gin.