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THE PERFECT MARTINI

Before we start experimenting with other cocktails, we need to talk about martinis. Shorthand for elegance, sophistication, debauchery, vice and pleasure, martinis are the cocktails most novice drinkers aspire to. The perfect mix of fire and ice, martinis are urban cool, liquid satin silver bullets served in frosted glasses.

There are plenty of tall tales associated with the origins of the martini. The most famous concerns legendary barman ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas, who mixed drinks around the US and wrote the 1862 Bar-Tender’s Guide, the first ever cocktail book. The story goes that Thomas was keeping bar in San Francisco when a tired, dusty traveller came in and asked for something new to drink. Thomas asked where he was heading and the traveller said Martinez. So Thomas mixed together gin, vermouth and bitters and called it the Martinez, which was later shortened to martini.

It’s a neat story, but it doesn’t seem to be any more true than the claim that the drink was made in honour of the Martini-Henry rifle or named after the Italian vermouth brand, Martini. The first actual martini recipe appeared in print in 1888, in Harry Johnson’s Bartender’s Manual, although that recipe still used sweet Italian vermouth rather than the dry French vermouth preferred today.

Martinis were the mainstay of cocktail parties in the early part of the 20th century and adventurous drinkers liked to put their own twists on the drink. The occultist Aleister Crowley, added laudanum to his martinis. Others played with the ratios of gin to vermouth, moving away from the wet mixture of four parts gin to one part vermouth to drier ratios of 7:1, 10:1 or, in the case of Winston Churchill, no vermouth at all.

As martinis evolved, a debate raged on: shaken or stirred? The main argument against shaking is that it ‘bruises’ the gin, which doesn’t seem likely as gin doesn’t have any capillaries to burst. What shaking does do is make the drink cloudy as little chips of ice break up and get muddled in with the liquid. For an ice-cold martini as clear as a lake in winter, stirring is the only way to go.

HOW TO MAKE A MARTINI

Below are two recipes for a martini, one dry with a ratio of 6:1, and a wetter version with a ratio closer to 3:1. For the vermouth, use a dry French vermouth like Dolin or Noilly Prat. For the gin, use your favourite – just make sure it’s good quality. A martini is no place to hide a bottle of cheap booze.

Dry Martini

10ml (1/3fl oz) dry French vermouth

60ml (2fl oz) good-quality gin

1 dash of orange bitters (optional)

Place your martini glass into the freezer for at least 30 minutes, or fill it with ice to chill. Half fill a mixing glass with ice and pour in the vermouth. Stir a few times to coat the ice. Pour in the gin and add a dash of orange bitters (the bitters are optional, but I like them in a dry martini to add a little extra flavour). Stir for 30 seconds, then strain the martini into your chilled glass, garnish as desired (see here) and serve.

Wet Martini

15ml (½fl oz) dry French vermouth

50ml (1¾fl oz) good-quality gin

Place your martini glass into the freezer for at least 30 minutes, or fill it with ice to chill. Half fill a mixing glass with ice and pour in the vermouth. Stir a few times to coat the ice then pour in the gin. Stir for 30 seconds, then strain the martini into your chilled glass, garnish and serve.

LEARN THE LINGO

With a twist

Garnished with a twist of lemon zest. This is the classic martini garnish and the peel is usually twisted over the top of the martini to spritz the surface with citrus oils before being dropped into the glass.

With an olive

The more savoury alternative to a twist. Plain green olives either dropped in or skewered on a cocktail stick and laid in the glass. Stuffed olives are for eating on the side of your martini, not putting in it.

Dirty Martini

A martini with a dash of olive brine added to the mix, usually around 1 teaspoon.