The Martini is the oldest recognized cocktail in continuous service in the United States, and it is probably the most argued over. Gin or vodka. Shaken or stirred. Wet or dry. Olive or lemon twist. Whisper of vermouth or proper pour. Every decision a bartender makes about a Martini is a statement, and every Martini drinker has opinions about all of them.
The Classic Gin Martini, as made by most bartenders today, is a specific drink with a specific history. It is also the original Martini, before vodka arrived, before James Bond ordered his shaken, and before the 1980s dry-to-the-point-of-invisible-vermouth school turned the drink into a glass of cold gin.
The Martinez and the early years
The Martini’s earliest ancestor is the Martinez, a cocktail that appeared in Jerry Thomas’s 1887 edition of The Bar-Tender’s Guide. The Martinez was made with Old Tom gin (a slightly sweetened style of gin that was common in the 19th century), sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur, and orange bitters. It was served in a small glass, garnished with a cherry.
The Martinez traveled through the 1890s and into the early 1900s, and as it did, bartenders in different cities adjusted the recipe. The sweet vermouth gave way to dry vermouth. The maraschino liqueur disappeared. The Old Tom gin, as the drier “London Dry” style became more available, gave way to London Dry. By the 1900 publication of Harry Johnson’s Bartender’s Manual, the drink was called a Martini and was recognizably the ancestor of what we drink today: gin, dry vermouth, stirred with ice, strained into a cocktail glass.
The ratio of gin to vermouth in the early Martini was close to 2:1. This is dramatically more vermouth than the modern Martini. The drink was drier and more aperitif-like, closer in character to what we would now call a Wet Martini or a 50/50 Martini. This is the original formula.
The drying of the Martini
Through the 20th century, the ratio of gin to vermouth in the standard Martini increased steadily. By the 1920s it was 3:1. By the 1950s, 5:1. By the 1980s, the “bone-dry” Martini became fashionable, and ratios of 10:1, 20:1, or higher were common. Winston Churchill was said (probably apocryphally) to have glanced at the bottle of vermouth from across the room and considered that sufficient. The Silver Bullet and related variations took the principle to its logical extreme: pour the vermouth in the glass, swirl, dump it out, pour in the gin.
The problem with the bone-dry Martini is that without meaningful vermouth, the drink stops being a cocktail. It becomes a glass of cold gin, which is a fine thing to drink but is not the same drink. Dry vermouth, when fresh and used at proper quantity, adds floral and herbal notes that balance gin’s juniper. The vermouth is not just a sweetener or a flavor agent; it is the structural balance of the drink.
The craft cocktail revival of the 2000s reversed the trend. Modern bartenders overwhelmingly make Martinis at 4:1 or 3:1, with meaningful vermouth, and they use fresh, refrigerated vermouth that has not been sitting open at room temperature for a year. This is closer to the historical formula and produces a better drink.
Shaken or stirred
The short answer is stirred. The long answer involves the physics of cold dilution.
Stirring a Martini with ice for 30 to 45 seconds dilutes the drink correctly (the “holy water” effect of proper dilution makes a stiff spirit drink palatable) and chills it to between 25 and 28 degrees Fahrenheit. The drink comes out silky, clear, and cold.
Shaking accomplishes the same cold and dilution faster, but it aerates the drink, bruises the gin, and cloudies the clarity. For drinks that contain citrus or dairy, shaking is correct because the aeration is wanted. For a Martini, which is mostly clear spirit, the aeration is a defect.
James Bond orders his Martini shaken not stirred, and for 60 years that preference has been shorthand for sophistication. It is also, by any objective measure, the wrong way to make the drink. Bartenders today will shake on request without comment, but most Martinis leave the bar stirred.
What the drink actually is
The Martini is a spirit-forward cocktail, the same category as the Manhattan, the Negroni, and the Old Fashioned. These drinks are mostly spirit, with a small amount of flavoring agent and, in some cases, bitters. They succeed or fail on the quality of the base spirit.
For a Martini, that means the gin must be worth drinking on its own. A bad or thin gin produces a bad or thin Martini. Gallon House Gin’s juniper-led profile, supported by rose, coriander, and cucumber, is built for this kind of drink. The Martini is a showcase, and the gin has to have something to show.
Making one well
Use cold, fresh vermouth. Store your opened bottle of dry vermouth in the refrigerator and use it within two or three months. Vermouth is a fortified wine and it oxidizes. Stale vermouth tastes bitter and flat.
Use a 4:1 or 3:1 ratio, depending on preference. 2½ oz gin to ½ oz vermouth is a classic modern ratio. Go wetter for a more aperitif-like drink, drier for a more spirit-forward one.
Stir with fresh ice for at least 30 seconds. Stir gently and steadily. Taste it before straining. If it isn’t cold enough, stir another 15 seconds.
Strain into a chilled glass. Glass temperature matters. Keep your Martini glasses in the freezer.
Garnish is personal. A lemon twist, oils expressed over the drink, adds a bright citrus aroma. An olive adds brine and salinity. A pickled cocktail onion (making it a Gibson) adds sharp, vegetal umami. All are correct.
Variations worth knowing
The Dirty Martini adds ½ oz or more of olive brine for a saltier, savorier drink.
The Gibson uses a pickled cocktail onion as garnish instead of olive or twist.
The 50/50 Martini uses equal parts gin and vermouth, which is a revival of the pre-1920s ratio. It is lighter and more aperitif-like.
The Vesper, Ian Fleming’s original James Bond specification, uses 3 parts gin to 1 part vodka to ½ part Lillet Blanc, shaken. It is a legitimate variation, though Fleming’s original Kina Lillet (a quinine-containing aperitif) was reformulated in 1986 and no longer exists in the original form.
The recipe
2½ oz Gallon House Gin ½ oz dry vermouth
Stir with fresh ice for 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled Martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist or an olive.
The drink worth getting right
The Classic Gin Martini is the kind of cocktail that reveals everything. A bad gin is immediately obvious. Tired vermouth is immediately obvious. Insufficient cold is immediately obvious. There is nowhere to hide. It is also the kind of drink that looks civilized on the first one and starts writing your resignation letter on the third. Treat it with appropriate caution.
I had my first proper Martini in a hotel bar in Germany, stirred correctly, cold enough to hurt, with vermouth you could actually taste. Before that I had mostly had the American kind, which is a chilled shot of gin with an olive nearby. The difference was enough to change what I ordered for the next several years. Making a Martini well is not complicated, but it requires caring about the details. A Martini made with attention, with good gin and fresh vermouth, properly cold, is one of the three or four great cocktails in the world. Not because of what it is, but because of what it reveals about what went into it.
Sources
- Jerry Thomas, The Bar-Tender’s Guide (Dick & Fitzgerald, 1887), for the Martinez ancestor.
- Harry Johnson, Bartender’s Manual (1900), for the early Martini recipe.
- David Wondrich, Imbibe! (Perigee, 2007), on the Martini’s century-long evolution.
- Dale DeGroff, The Craft of the Cocktail (Clarkson Potter, 2002), on technique and the shift back to proper vermouth.
- Gary Regan, The Joy of Mixology (Clarkson Potter, 2003), on spirit-forward drinks.
- Difford’s Guide entry on the Dry Martini.
About the author
Adam Messick is the founder of Abiqua Spirit Distillery in Silverton, Oregon, with ten years in the craft spirits industry. With help from family and friends, he handles the day-to-day work of blending, bottling, and labeling every release of Silverton Vodka, Gallon House Gin, and Üla Orange Liqueur. Silverton Vodka received the American Distilling Institute’s Gold Medal in 2019. Silverton Vodka, Gallon House Gin, and Üla Orange Liqueur have each won Silver at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Abiqua Spirit Distillery is a small-batch spirits company producing finely crafted potato vodka, gin, and orange liqueur from Silverton, Oregon. Contact: info@abiquaspiritdistillery.com or (503) 837-9869.