Classic cocktails · Vodka · IBA official
Slightly cloudy and very cold, with a salty, savoury edge from the olive brine that makes you reach for the next sip. Serve it with a pick of good green olives.
2 oz
vodka or gine.g. Absolut · Smirnoff · Grey Goose · Ketel One · Belvedere
¼ oz
dry vermouthe.g. Noilly Prat · Martini · Dolin · Cinzano
¼ oz
olive brine from a jar of good green olives
Garnish: Green olives · Ice: Served up, no ice
Dirty Martini
Dry, savoury and salty with a clean, cold spirit backbone and a light herbal note from the vermouth. Strong.
Adding olive brine to a Martini is an old habit, and bartenders have been muddling or splashing olive into the glass for a long time. Popular accounts trace it back to the early 20th century, but there is no single, reliable origin story.
The Dirty Martini became a standard order in the late 20th century, when vodka largely replaced gin in the Martini in American bars. The IBA lists it as a New Era Drink, with vodka as the base.
Olive brine, the salty liquid from a jar of olives, added to the drink.
The IBA uses vodka, but gin is just as common and adds herbal notes.
It is a spirit-forward drink of roughly 25% ABV after dilution, so one is plenty.
The perfect sound
Briny, sultry and served with a low voice.
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