Martini (cocktail)

Martini (cocktail)

Martini





The martini is one of the most widely known cocktails


Type

Cocktail


Primary alcohol by volume
Gin


Served

straight (or on the rocks)


Standard garnish


Olive or lemon twist


Standard drinkware




Cocktail glass


Commonly used ingredients
55ml (11 parts) gin
15ml (3 parts) dry vermouth


Preparation

Straight: Pour all ingredients into mixing glass with ice cubes. Stir well. Strain in chilled martini cocktail glass. Squeeze oil from lemon peel onto the drink, or garnish with olive. (On the rocks: Pour all ingredients over ice cubes in old-fashioned glass, garnish as above and serve.)



The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and garnished with an olive or a lemon twist. Over the years, the martini has become one of the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages. H. L. Mencken called the martini "the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet"[1] and E. B. Whitecalled it "the elixir of quietude".[2]



Contents

[hide]
1 Preparation
2 Martini origins and mixology
3 In popular culture
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Preparation[edit]







A martini with olives as a garnish


The traditional method of preparation is to pour gin and dry vermouth into a mixing glass with ice cubes, stir, strain into chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a green olive or a twist of lemon peel.


The ratio of gin to vermouth has been steadily increasing since the cocktail was created. A ratio of 1:1 was common at the turn of the 20th century, and 3:1 or 4:1 martinis were typical during the 1930s and 1940s. During the latter part of the 20th century, 6:1, 8:1, 12:1, or even 50:1 or 100:1 martinis became considered the norm.[3] And there have always been those who advocated the elimination of vermouth altogether: Noël Cowardsuggested that the ideal martini should be made by "filling a glass with gin then waving it in the general direction of Italy"[citation needed] (which along with France is a major producer of vermouth). Luis Buñuel considered it enough to hold up a glass of gin next to a bottle of vermouth and let a beam of sunlight pass through.[4] Winston Churchill was said to whisper the word 'vermouth' to a freshly poured glass of gin.[citation needed]


There are a number of variations on the traditional martini. The fictional spy James Bond sometimes asked for his vodka martinis to be "shaken, not stirred," following Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), which prescribes shaking for all its martini recipes.[5] However, Somerset Maughamis often quoted as saying that "a martini should always be stirred, not shaken, so that the molecules lie sensuously on top of one another".[6] A martini may also be served on the rocks, that is, with the ingredients poured over ice cubes and served in an old-fashioned glass.[7] A dirty martini contains a splash of olive brine or olive juice and is typically garnished with an olive.[8] A "perfect" martini uses equal amounts of sweet and dry vermouth.
Martini origins and mixology[edit]


The exact origin of the martini is unclear. Numerous cocktails with names and ingredients similar to the modern-day martini were first seen in bartending guides of the late 19th century.[9] For example, in the 1888 Bartender's Manual there was a recipe for a drink that consisted of half a wine glass of Old Tom Gin and a half a wine glass of vermouth. In 1863, an Italian vermouth maker started marketing their product under the brand name of Martini. This product is still available today, although it is now better known as Martini & Rossi.[10]


Another popular theory suggests it evolved from a cocktail called the Martinez served at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco sometime in the early 1860s, which people frequented before taking an evening ferry to the nearby town of Martinez. Alternatively, the people of Martinez say the drink was first created by a bartender in their town,[11] or maybe the town was named after the drink. Another theory links the first dry martini to the name of a bartender who concocted the drink at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York City in 1911 or 1912.[12] The self-styled Court of Historical Review in San Francisco ruled that the martini was invented in San Francisco. A court in Martinez, California, recently overturned this decision. (These "courts" have neither legal nor academic authority and are primarily for entertainment.) [citation needed]


But it was Prohibition and the relative ease of illegal gin manufacture that led to the martini's rise as the predominant cocktail of the mid 20th century in the United States. With the repeal of Prohibition, and the ready availability of quality gin, the drink became progressively dryer. In the 1970s and 80s, the martini came to be seen as old-fashioned and was replaced by more intricate cocktails and wine spritzers, but the mid-1990s saw a resurgence in the drink and an explosion of new versions.


Some newer drinks include the word "martini" or the suffix "-tini" in the name (e.g., appletini, peach martini, chocolate martini, espresso martini). These are named after the martini cocktail glass they use and generally contain vodka like the kangaroo cocktail, but share little else with the drink.
In popular culture[edit]


Ian Fleming's fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond famously orders a Vodka martini, routinely asking for it "shaken, not stirred". This martini variation occurs in films and video game adaptations, but rarely in the earlier books. In the novel Casino Royale he orders a cocktail later named the Vesper which uses gin, vodka and Kina Lillet rather than vermouth.
See also[edit]
Martini & Rossi
Martini (vermouth)
Three-martini lunch
Gibson (cocktail)
Vesper (cocktail)
Bronx (cocktail)
List of cocktails
List of martini variations
Martini Shot, a film industry term for the last shot of the day, because "the next shot is out of a glass"
References[edit]

^ Edmunds, Lowell (1981). Martini, Straight Up: The Classic American Cocktail. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-5971-9.
^ Conrad, Barnaby, III (1995). The Martini: An Illustrated History of an American Classic. Chronicle Books. pp. 10–11. ISBN 0-8118-0717-7.
^ "COCKTAILS: The Wet Martini". 16 June 2009.
^ "Toward the Wet Martini". Slate.com. 18 February April 1998. Retrieved 8 Sep 2012.
^ Craddock, Harry (2011). The Savoy Cocktail Book. Pavilion Books. pp. 102–103. ISBN 9-781862-052963.
^ See, e.g., Schott’s Food & Drink Miscellany” (2004)
^ The old-fashioned glass "is increasingly used these days [mid-1970s] by people who prefer their martinis 'on the rocks' instead of 'up' - that is, in the rather more fussy and more precise cocktail-glass type of preparation." Irma Rombauer & Marion Rombauer Becker, The Joy of Cooking (1975 ed.), p. 49.
^ Bloom, Dave. The Complete Bartender's Guide. Carlton Books. p. 95. ISBN 1-84222-736-X.
^ Edmunds, Lowell (1998). Martini, Straight Up: The Classic American Cocktail. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-8018-7311-9.
^ "Shaken or Stirred? A Short History to Celebrate National Martini Day". Retrieved 19 July 2012.
^ Taylor, David (2002). Martini. Silverback Books. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-930603-03-5.
^ Gasnier, Vincent (2007). Drinks. DK Adult. p. 376.