Crystal clear, painfully cold and silky on the tongue, the Martini is two ingredients and a lot of technique. Stir it long enough, chill the glass properly and choose your garnish with care: an olive for savory depth or a lemon twist for bright perfume.
4.8Editors’ rating
Taste4.7
Balance4.8
Easy to make4.6
Popularity99
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Garnish: Olive or lemon twist · Ice: Served up, no ice
Method
Put a cocktail glass in the freezer for at least 10 minutes.
Add gin and dry vermouth to a mixing glass filled with plenty of ice.
Stir for 25 to 30 seconds until very cold.
Strain into the frozen glass.
Garnish with an olive on a pick, or express a lemon twist over the surface and drop it in.
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Watch it made
Martini
Taste
Bone dry, crisp and aromatic with juniper, citrus peel and a faint herbal note from the vermouth. Very strong.
History and origin
The Martini grew out of the Martinez, a sweeter 19th century drink of gin, sweet vermouth and maraschino that appeared in American bar guides in the 1880s. As dry London gin and French dry vermouth became widely available, bartenders around the turn of the 20th century began making drier versions, and the name Martini took over.
Many stories claim its invention, including one that credits a bartender named Martini di Arma di Taggia at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York around 1911, but none is proven. Over the century the drink grew steadily drier, from equal parts to the minimal splash of vermouth common today. The IBA lists it as the Dry Martini among its unforgettables.
Bartender tips
Vermouth is wine and oxidizes: keep it in the fridge and replace it after a few weeks.
Stir, do not shake: shaking clouds the drink and adds tiny ice shards.
Adjust the dryness to taste; 60 to 10 is the IBA ratio, 50 to 20 is a softer, more classic style.
