 The Lemon Drop was invented sometime in the 1970s by Norman Jay Hobday , the founder and proprietor of Henry Africa 's , a fern bar in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco , California that opened in 1969 . It was originally served in a cocktail glass . The Lemon Drop was most likely named after lemon drop candy . After its invention , the drink swiftly spread to many San Francisco saloons . In the early 1990s , it was often prepared as a shooter or served in a shot glass . 
