Martini

The martini is a classic cocktail made with gin and dry vermouth, served in a cocktail glass and usually garnished with an olive or a lemon twist. Born in the United States, it has become one of the most recognisable mixed drinks in the world.

History

The exact origin of the martini is unclear. Its name has been linked to the Italian vermouth brand Martini, but also to a cocktail called the Martinez, served in the early 1860s at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco, where patrons stopped before taking an evening ferry to the nearby Californian town of Martinez.

The earliest recipe resembling the modern martini appears in 1907, in a bartending guide by the San Francisco mixologist William Boothby, who attributed it to a bartender from Los Angeles. By 1922 the drink had reached its most recognisable form, with London dry gin and dry vermouth at a ratio of 2:1, stirred over ice. During Prohibition in the United States, the relative ease of making illegal gin helped the martini become the dominant cocktail. After repeal, with quality gin widely available, the drink grew progressively drier.

The proportion of vermouth fell steadily through the twentieth century: 3:1 in the 1930s, 4:1 in the 1940s, and 5:1 or 6:1 by the later decades. The martini fell out of fashion in the 1970s and 1980s, but a resurgence in the mid-1990s brought numerous new versions.

Culture

The martini is usually drunk as an aperitif or before dinner, and its stemmed glass has become a symbol of sophistication. Its popularity surged in the Roaring Twenties, when ordering one became a common habit. Many of its variants take their name from how they are made or how they taste: the dirty martini, with a splash of olive brine; the Gibson, garnished with cocktail onions instead of an olive; the wet martini, with more vermouth; or the 50-50, with equal parts gin and vermouth.

The standard IBA recipe sets a 5:1 ratio, with 5.5 cl of gin and 1.5 cl of dry vermouth, stirred with ice and strained into a chilled glass. The vodka version is the most widespread outside the gin tradition. Other variants, such as the Yale Cocktail or the Clarito, show how the drink remains a starting point for new creations.

Trivia