Few drinks, if any, top the classic Gin Martini. The celebrated drink is legend. It’s a symbol of glamor and elegance, backed by an illustrious history and applauded by larger-than-life figures. Its simplicity is key, gin’s juniper berry and vermouth’s herbal quality creating the perfect botanical balance.
Gin Martini Recipes
The Classic Martini:
- 2 oz gin
- ½ oz dry vermouth
- Lemon twist or green cocktail olive
The Dry Martini:
- 2 oz gin
- ¼ oz dry vermouth
- Lemon twist or green cocktail olive
The Extra-Dry Martini:
- 2 oz gin
- Small splash of dry vermouth
- Lemon twist or green cocktail olive
The Winston Churchill:
- 3 oz of premium gin
- Lemon twist or green cocktail olive
Preparation:
- Stir the gin and vermouth in a mixing glass with ice (we’re degenerates and use a shaker…).
- Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
- Run the lemon peel over the edge of the glass, twist it over the drink, and drop it in.
- Alternatively, drop in the olive.
* If making the Churchill Martini, pour the iced gin into a chilled glass, drop in the lemon peel, and bow towards France. For a variation on the extra-dry, some martini lovers will simply rinse their glass with the vermouth, then dump it out.
Shaken or stirred?
We all know of a certain spy who prefers his martini’s “shaken, not stirred.” While most cinephile’s will cheer this line, it will make your local mixologist recoil in horror. Shaking the cocktail in an ice-filled shaker will “batter the gin” and dilute the drink with melting ice. So, if you’re a purist, best to stir the gin. But if you’re like Bond, and you need to keep your senses sharp against sneaky assassins, then shake until your heart’s content.
The History
Like all classic cocktails, it’s near impossible to nail down the martini’s origin story. Here are some leading contenders:
- The British like to claim, as they do everything, that the martini was invented by them and it was named after the Martin-Henry rifle, used by the British royal army in the 1800’s.
- Another theory is that the martini evolved from a cocktail called the “Martinez,” served in the mid-1800s in Martinez, California. This drink was sweeter and less dry, using a mix of gin, vermouth, maraschino liqueur, and bitters.
- Alternatively, there’s a story that Jerry Thomas, who bartended at San Francisco’s Occidental Hotel, created the drink for a miner on his way to search for gold in Martinez, California.
- One legend attributes the drink to New York’s Knickerbocker Hotel in or around 1910. The bartender Martini di Arma di Taggia’s version combined London dry gin and Noilly Prat dry vermouth in equal parts. The drink reputedly evolved from a popular drink called the Gin and French. Whether or not it’s Martini’s drink, it’s the Knickerboker’s regulars who are credited with embellishing the drink with an olive.
- Lastly, while many agree that the martini originated in New York City, others believe that the drink first appeared in 1882, not 1910. It’s argued that the first American beverage to combine spirits and vermouth was created for New York’s rich and famous at the famed Turf Club.
The Evolution
The martini gained popularity in the United States during Prohibition. The lack of quality spirits led to the rise of gin, which was easier to produce illicitly than other liquors—anyone ever hear of “bathtub gin?” The addition of vermouth helped mask the harsh flavors of bootlegged gin, but it didn’t stop folks from going blind.
After Prohibition, the martini continued to evolve and the ratio of gin to vermouth varied, with a trend towards drier martinis. Sometimes the argument for a martini’s “dryness” is taken to extremes, with red-faced aficionados swearing that their gin should only be misted with vermouth.
Whatever the right answer, the classic martini must include two ingredients: Gin and Vermouth.
