Martini
Cold, dry, aromatic — gin and vermouth stirred until the glass frosts.
- Lemon twist or olivesingle garnish, expressed
- Stirred 25–30s on icethen strained up
- Gin + vermouth + bitterscombined in mixing glass
- Chilled coupepre-frozen or filled with ice water
How to make it
- Chill a Nick & Nora glass in the freezer or with ice water.
- Combine gin, vermouth, and bitters (if using) in a mixing glass with cracked ice.
- Stir with a bar spoon for 25–30 seconds until the mixing glass is frosted.
- Strain into the chilled glass. Express a lemon twist over the surface and drop it in, or garnish with a single olive.
The history
The Martini emerged in the late 19th century out of a family of gin-and-vermouth drinks that included the Martinez and the Manhattan-style Turf Club. Recipes from the 1880s use a 1:1 ratio of gin to sweet vermouth with orange bitters and maraschino — a very different drink from the modern version.
As dry vermouth spread through American bars in the early 1900s the ratio dried out: 2:1 by the 1920s, 4:1 by the 1940s, absurdly dry by the 1960s ('just wave the vermouth bottle over the glass'). The mid-century in-and-out Martini is a marketing artifact, not a recipe — it's a chilled glass of gin.
The current bar standard has swung back to 4:1 or lower, because vermouth is the drink's flavor. Without it, the Martini is not a cocktail; it is a category error.
Common mistakes
- Skipping the vermouth
A Martini is a mixed drink. Without at least 15 ml of dry vermouth you are drinking chilled gin — which is fine, but not a Martini.
- Shaking
Shaking a spirit-only drink aerates and bruises the botanicals with ice shards. The result is cloudy, thin, and cold in the wrong way. Stir.
- Old vermouth
Vermouth is a wine and oxidizes. If your bottle has been open, unrefrigerated, for six months, it is dead. Buy small bottles, keep them cold, replace every 4–6 weeks.
Variations
- Vesper
3 measures gin, 1 measure vodka, 1/2 measure Lillet Blanc. Shaken (per Fleming) and served up with a lemon peel. A different drink; not a Martini.
- Dirty Martini
Add 5–10 ml olive brine. Rounds the drink, adds salt — but only works with good brine from real olives, not the neon jar juice.
- 50/50 Martini
Equal parts gin and dry vermouth. The classical late-19th-century ratio; a lower-proof, more aromatic drink.
Frequently asked
- Shaken or stirred?
- Stirred. Shaking bruises the botanicals and cools the drink unevenly.
- Gin or vodka?
- Gin is the traditional base. A vodka Martini is a distinct drink popularized by the Bond novels; because vodka has no botanicals, the vermouth becomes the entire flavor.
- How dry is 'dry'?
- Dry refers to vermouth type (dry white vermouth) and, historically, to less of it. 4:1 gin-to-vermouth is a reliable modern dry Martini; drier than 6:1 loses the cocktail entirely.
- Olive or twist?
- Twist for a cleaner, more aromatic drink; olive for a savory, saline one. Never both.