Midori Sour Shot

Midori and fresh lemon — the Sour condensed to a shot, Suntory launching Midori at Studio 54 (June 1978) in one of the era's most photographed product launches.

The Midori Sour Shot concentrates the Midori Sour's bright melon-citrus combination into a single-serve shooter, making the drink's vivid green color and accessible sweetness available in the quick-service format that party settings require. Midori was launched in the United States at Studio 54 in New York City in June 1978 in one of the era's most photographed product launches — the Suntory company chose the world's most famous nightclub, co-owned by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, as the venue for introducing their Japanese muskmelon liqueur to the American market. Midori's particular combination of qualities — its extraordinary green color, its sweet, clean tropical flavor, and its Japanese origin at a moment when Japanese food and design culture was generating significant American interest — made it an immediate commercial success. The spirit's name is the Japanese word for green, directly describing its most visually arresting characteristic. The shooter version pairs Midori with lemon juice in the standard sour proportion, sometimes with a small measure of simple syrup depending on the desired sweetness level. The resulting shot delivers the Midori Sour's essential character in a single cold measure — the melon's sweetness meeting the lemon's acid in a clean, brief flavor experience whose green color makes it immediately identifiable in a row of shots.