The Vodka Martini is a drink with a complicated relationship to purists. To one camp, it isn’t a Martini at all. To another, it is the only version of the Martini worth drinking in the modern era. Both camps have points, and anyone who has spent time behind a bar has watched the argument happen in real time.
The drink’s story is shorter than the original Martini’s, but it has the advantage of being unusually well-documented, because its rise to mainstream status happened during the era of mass media, and the man who did the most for it was a fictional British spy.
Before Bond
Vodka did not exist in meaningful quantities in the American market until the 1940s. A Russian vodka brand that had been produced since the 1860s arrived in the United States through a circuitous route: a Russian émigré sold it to an American in 1933, who spent the next decade trying to convince Americans that a colorless, tasteless spirit was worth drinking. The marketing campaign that eventually worked leaned on the idea that vodka had “no taste, no smell.” The taste-free quality was the feature.
Through the 1940s and into the 1950s, American drinkers who had been drinking gin Martinis for decades started substituting vodka. The reason was partly the marketing, partly the post-war willingness to try new things, and partly that vodka was cheaper and more available than good gin in many places. By the mid-1950s, the Vodka Martini was on mainstream cocktail menus in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, though it was still considered the junior version of the drink.
Shaken, not stirred
Ian Fleming published Casino Royale in 1953, and with it, James Bond ordered a drink that would change the culture of the Martini permanently. Bond’s order, given to a casino bartender, is specific:
“Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel.”
This is not a Vodka Martini. It is a gin-based Martini with a splash of vodka and an aperitif wine (Kina Lillet, now known as Lillet Blanc, was reformulated in 1986 and is no longer made with quinine). Fleming named it the Vesper after a character in the novel.
But the line that entered the culture was not the full specification. It was the phrase “shaken, not stirred,” which Bond repeats across the novels and the films starting in the 1960s. The phrase spread because it was memorable and because it sounded knowledgeable. By the time Sean Connery had been playing Bond for a few years, ordering a Vodka Martini shaken not stirred was shorthand in American bars for sophistication.
There is a problem with it, which is that bartenders and cocktail historians overwhelmingly prefer Martinis stirred. Shaking a clear spirit with ice bruises it, cloudies it, and aerates it more than a Martini benefits from. Stirring produces a silkier, more transparent, colder drink. The Vodka Martini does not actually improve when shaken. It becomes colder faster, which is why Bond may have wanted it that way, but it also becomes less elegant.
Most bartenders today will stir a Vodka Martini unless a guest specifically asks for it shaken. The Bond convention has softened in the post-craft-cocktail era, though it remains instantly recognizable.
What the drink actually is
A Vodka Martini is a spirit-forward cocktail, which is a specific and older category than the sour family. A spirit-forward drink is mostly spirit, with a small amount of a flavoring agent (in the Martini’s case, dry vermouth). The Manhattan, the Negroni, and the Old Fashioned are in the same category. These drinks succeed or fail on the quality of the base spirit, because there is nothing in the glass to hide behind.
For a Vodka Martini, that means the vodka has to be worth drinking on its own. A harsh, thin, or off-tasting vodka produces a harsh, thin, or off-tasting Martini. There is no fruit or sugar to mask it.
Making one well
Three things.
Use good vodka. Silverton Vodka’s clean finish, creamy texture, and subtle sweetness give a Vodka Martini exactly what the drink needs: a spirit that rewards being tasted directly. A flat, industrial vodka makes a flat, industrial Martini.
Use real dry vermouth, and use it in a real amount. A Vodka Martini is not a shot of chilled vodka. The classic ratio is between 5:1 and 8:1 vodka to dry vermouth, which is noticeably more vermouth than many bartenders pour. Dry vermouth oxidizes once opened and should be refrigerated and used within a few months. Using old flat vermouth is worse than using no vermouth. If you are going to skip the vermouth entirely, you are ordering a chilled shot, which is a valid choice but not a Martini.
Get it cold. A Martini should be painfully cold. Stir for at least 30 seconds with a generous amount of fresh ice. Pre-chill the glass in the freezer. Strain into the chilled glass and serve immediately.
Garnish is a personal call. A lemon twist expresses oils that pair with vodka’s neutrality. An olive adds salt and brine. Both are correct. A dirty Martini adds a splash of olive brine and is a different and legitimate drink.
The Vodka Martini is a drink that convinces you on the second one that you are sharper than you are, and by the fourth is why you cannot locate your coat. Order accordingly.
Variations worth knowing
The Dirty Martini adds ½ oz or more of olive brine. It is a saltier, savorier version and has its own devotees.
The Wet Martini uses more vermouth (3:1 or 4:1) and is closer to the original 1900s Martini ratio. It is lighter and more aperitif-like.
The Vesper, Fleming’s original specification, uses three parts gin to one part vodka, with a splash of Lillet Blanc and a lemon twist. Worth making once to see what Bond was actually ordering.
The Gibson swaps the olive or lemon for a pickled cocktail onion.
The Espresso Martini, invented by Dick Bradsell in London in the 1980s, is a different drink entirely, but it is worth noting because it revived vodka-based cocktails at a moment when they were out of fashion.
I had my first proper Vodka Martini at a small bar in Germany during the years I lived there, stirred correctly, served painfully cold, with a lemon twist expressed over the top. The American version at the time was almost always a chilled shot of vodka with an olive floated near it, which is a different drink entirely. The German bartender had a different idea of what a Martini was, and he was right.
The recipe
2½ oz Silverton Vodka 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.
Sources
- Ian Fleming, Casino Royale (Jonathan Cape, 1953), for the Vesper and “shaken, not stirred.”
- David Wondrich, Imbibe! (Perigee, 2007), on the Martini’s development and the rise of vodka in American bars.
- Dale DeGroff, The Craft of the Cocktail (Clarkson Potter, 2002), on technique and ratios.
- Gary Regan, The Joy of Mixology (Clarkson Potter, 2003), for the spirit-forward drinks family.
- Difford’s Guide entries on the Martini and the Vodka 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.