Martini Cocktail

The Dry Martini is a classic cocktail that, like a tailored suit, is timeless. Although the origin of the tipple is unclear, the Dry Martini has maintained a place in cocktail history due to being easy to prepare and endlessly sophisticated. Elegant for the fancy and boozy for the heavy-handed, this potation is truly the everyman’s cocktail.

The classic dry gin martini is an iconic cocktail and one that should be on every bartender’s list of drinks to know. Though many martinis have been created, there is only one martini and few drinks can beat this simple recipe.

There is no mystery to the martini. It is, quite simply, gin and dry vermouth. However, personal preferences among martini lovers make it a little more complicated than that. There are a number of ways to customize it and this has spurred a debate over the “proper” way to make a martini. Though it’s a never-ending discussion, the only correct answer is how you, as the drinker, enjoy it best.

Nowadays it’s typical to order one of these in a bar and be given a glass of something clear and cold—in many situations, a large, chilled pour of gin or, let’s face it, vodka, with nothing in it except a massive olive or three. With all due respect, that’s not a martini. That’s just cold booze, and there’s no shame in ordering that if that’s what you want.

Ingredients

beefeater gin: 4 oz

Noilly Prat dry vermouth: 3/4 oz

lemon: 1

How To Make Martini Cocktail

1. Holding a large (preferably 1-inch) cube of ice in the palm of your hand, use the back of a stirring spoon to crack it into large pieces; place in a shaker glass. Repeat with enough ice to fill glass. Add gin and vermouth and, using a bar spoon, rapidly stir 50 times in a circular motion (the outside of the shaker will become very cold and frosty).
2. Strain martini through a Hawthorne strainer (or a large slotted spoon) into a chilled Nick and Nora glass. Strain any excess cocktail into a sidecar set over ice (or a small glass in a bowl of ice).
3. Using a small serrated knife, remove a 1-inch piece of peel from lemon; it should be stiff enough to provide some resistance (some white pith is okay). Twist peel over drink to express oils, then rub around rim of glass. Float peel, yellow side up, in martini.

Trivia

1. A dirty Martini contains a splash of olive brine or olive juice and is typically garnished with an olive.
2. A perfect Martini uses equal amounts of sweet and dry vermouth.
3. The Martini, gin and vermouth, is probably the most popular and widely consumed cocktail.
4. Its origin is in dispute, but it dates back to about 1862.
5. The Martini's popularity has waxed and waned, and its recipe has changed considerably over the years.
6. Going from an original mixture that contained more Vermouth than Gin garnished with a lemon twist, to 2 to 1 gin and vermouth, to a 15 to 1 mixture, and finally straight chilled Gin.
7. There is also the Vodka Martini.
8. Standard Martini garnish is an olive, garnish it with a pearl onion and it is called a Gibson.