martini

martini, an alcoholic drink traditionally made with gin and dry vermouth and sometimes made with vodka in lieu of gin. Considered a sophisticated, classic cocktail, martinis are a popular mixed drink in many parts of the world.

History

The martini’s name is attributed to several different sources. One theory proposes that the drink was invented by a bartender in Martinez, California, in the mid-19th century during the state’s Gold Rush when a gold miner asked the bartender to make him something special. According to this story, the bartender named his creation the “Martinez Special.” Another theory is that the drink was named after the Martini & Rossi brand of vermouth, founded in 1863. There are other claims that the martini was invented in San Francisco and named for a miner who was traveling to Martinez or that it was invented by a bartender named Martini di Arma di Taggia at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York City in 1911. The Knickerbocker story is anachronistic, however, considering that the term martini was already documented before the turn of the previous century.

The use of both Martinez and martini to refer to a cocktail made with gin and vermouth dates to the 1880s, when the terms started to appear in bartenders’ manuals. O.H. Byron’s The Modern Bartender Guide (1884) lists the drink as a Martinez and describes it as a variation of a Manhattan, which is made with whiskey rather than gin. Jerry Thomas’s Bar-Tender’s Guide (1887) also calls the drink a Martinez and lists the ingredients as Old Tom gin, vermouth, maraschino liqueur, and Boker’s bitters. Harry Johnson’s New and Improved Illustrated Bartender’s Manual (1888) calls the drink a martini and lists the ingredients as Old Tom gin, gum syrup, bitters, curaçao, and vermouth.

The origin of the vodka martini is also murky. Although Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up (1952) cocktail guide has been credited as the first published reference to a vodka martini, a 1935 Smirnoff brochure includes recipes for a “vodka martini cocktail.” Oscar Haimo, a bartender at the Pierre hotel in New York City, created a drink he called a “Kangaroo Kicker” that was much like a vodka martini cocktail. Its recipe is included in his book Cocktail Digest (1943). Mixologist David A. Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks (1948) includes the cocktail with the name vodka martini, and from then on it went by that name or by the name vodkatini.

The martini’s signature glass—a V-shaped cone with a long thin stem—debuted in 1925 at the International Exhibition of Modern and Decorative Arts in Paris. Its design was based on the champagne coupe, which has a rounded shallow bowl and a shorter stem. Before the invention of the martini glass, the champagne coupe was typically used for cocktails. The martini glass’s design, however, gives it a perfectly conical shape and allows for a wider brim, both of which help to aerate the liquid and better open up its flavors. The long stem helps to retain the liquid’s properly cool temperature by keeping the hand—and the heat it emits—farther away from the bowl.

Martini types and varieties

The ratio of the base spirit (gin or vodka) to vermouth determines how wet or dry a martini is—the more vermouth used, the wetter the martini; the less vermouth used, the drier the martini. There are several common ratios for specific martini varieties. A reverse martini contains one part base spirit to two parts vermouth. A wet martini has two parts base spirit to one part vermouth. A standard dry martini, sometimes called a Dickens martini, contains five parts base spirit to one part vermouth. An Embury’s martini has seven parts base spirit to one part vermouth. A naked martini contains 10 parts base spirit to one part vermouth, although some naked martini recipes use a ratio of 30 to 1 or leave out the vermouth altogether.

A shaken martini is prepared by shaking the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice before straining the cocktail into a glass. A stirred martini is prepared by stirring the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice before straining it into a glass. Stirred martinis are known for being smoother and retaining more flavor than shaken martinis, because shaking can break up the ice and weaken the drink. Shaken martinis are known for being colder, having a softer mouthfeel, and increasing the perception of vermouth. Shaken martinis also appear cloudy compared with stirred martinis, because shaking the ingredients introduces air bubbles.

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Traditionally, martinis are seasoned with bitters and garnished with an olive or a lemon rind. Over time the seasonings and garnishes of martinis have expanded, creating many new varieties. The perfect martini is a variety made with two parts base spirit and one part each of sweet vermouth and dry vermouth; it is stirred and then garnished with a twist of lemon or orange rind. The Gibson martini is served dry and garnished with pickled onions. The smoky martini is made with a splash of peated single-malt Scotch whisky, which lends it a smoky flavor. The Vesper martini was created by Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond series, and is named after Vesper Lynd, a character in his first novel, Casino Royale (1953). The drink is made with three measures of gin, one measure of vodka, and half a measure of Kina Lillet (an aperitif containing quinine). It is prepared shaken and served with a twist of lemon peel. The dirty martini is made with an equal amount of olive brine and vermouth. The salty martini includes caper brine and fino sherry.

After the first flavored vodkas were introduced by Absolut in 1986, numerous varieties of flavored martinis were created, inspiring new gin martini creations as well. Popular flavored vodkas for martinis include espresso, lemon drop, and chocolate. Some modern martini varieties made with gin (or vodka) include flavors such as cucumber wasabi, lavender, and jasmine. Modern garnishes include fresh raspberries or gummy bear candies.

Martinis in popular culture

The martini’s popularity has waxed and waned since its invention. It survived the Prohibition era supposedly because gin can be readily made in backyard stills. Another story claims that the martini was preferred by speakeasy patrons because its shallow glass made it easy to quickly toss out the contents in the event of a police raid. The martini often appears in popular culture as a drink that conveys sophistication. It was the drink of choice for the urbane Nick and Nora Charles in the Thin Man films of the 1930s. James Bond’s penchant for his martinis to be prepared “shaken, not stirred” became one of the fictional agent’s defining characteristics. The drink’s popularity declined in the 1960s, but it made a comeback by the 1990s and early 2000s, in part because of the availability of flavored vodkas as well as the debuts of television series such as Sex and the City and Mad Men, both of which feature characters who frequently imbibe martinis and other classic cocktails.