Cocktail Recipe: The Crisp Martini

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Who’s ready for cocktails on the patio? This is the perfect summer cocktail. It’s easy to make and chances are, you’ve got the ingredients on had. Gin, elderflower liqueur, lemon and sauvy b. If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, try this one from Elevated Craft. An insulated cocktail shaker makes all the difference if you want a truly ice-cold cocktail. And it always feels like a special treat to pour a drink into a frosty glass.

The Crisp Martini

The perfect patio cocktail

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Servings 2

Equipment

• Elevated Craft Cocktail Shaker A good, insulated cocktail shaker makes ALL the difference.

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 3 oz Gin We like Hendricks or Amass
• 2 oz Elderflower liqueur St. Germain
• 1 oz lemon juice
• 2 oz sauvignon blanc Matua is perfect for this cocktail

Instructions

 

• Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Add gin, St. Germain, and lemon juice.
• Shake the cocktail for at least 30 seconds to get the cocktail nice and frosty. Strain into chilled martini glasses and top with the sauvignon blanc.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Is this the Hillstone Crisp Martini?

No — this is our version. The Crisp Martini is the sauvignon blanc martini that Hillstone serves, and it had a proper viral moment in the summer of 2025. Hillstone doesn’t publish its recipes, so every version you’ll find online, ours included, is somebody’s best reverse-engineering. We’ve never seen their spec and we’re not going to pretend otherwise.

What we can tell you is exactly what’s in ours, and how to push it in either direction.

What is a Crisp Martini?

A Crisp Martini is a sauvignon blanc martini — gin, elderflower liqueur, fresh lemon juice and sauvignon blanc, shaken hard and served very cold. The wine is what earns it the name: it brings a green, grassy sharpness that a gin-and-vermouth martini doesn’t have, and it takes the whole drink down a gear in strength. The elderflower rounds off the edges so the lemon doesn’t dominate.

How close is ours to the one at Hillstone?

We genuinely don’t know. What we’d say is that if you’ve had theirs and ours tastes off to you, there are two dials worth turning. Pull the elderflower back to 1 oz if you want it drier and less floral. And the wine matters more than people expect — a grassy New Zealand sauvignon blanc lands sharper and more citrusy than a rounder French one, so start there if ours tastes too soft.

Can I make a Crisp Martini without gin?

You can swap in vodka and it still works — you’ll lose the botanical backbone and end up with something closer to a wine cooler for grown-ups, which is not an insult. What you can’t skip is the sauvignon blanc. Take that out and you’ve just made a lemon drop.

About Amanda

Amanda is a co-founder of Bravo and Cocktails and co-hosts the Cocktails and Gossip podcast with B, the Prosecco Princess. With a long career in marketing and advertising — and an even longer one as a reality TV fan — Amanda has been hooked since the genre began with The Real World. She grew up devouring blogs like The Awful Truth on E! and Perez Hilton, and treating herself to People and Us Weekly at the checkout line. These days, you can find her cheering on her kids from the sidelines, traveling, checking out new restaurants, and of course, watching TV with her husband. Amanda is also the person behind the scenes at Cocktail Party — if you have questions about the site or your membership, feel free to send her a note at amanda@bravoandcocktails.com.

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