Gin, stirred
Dirty Martini
Barline 2,h,q,cO
The code is the shorthand off my printed menu; the Key tab decodes every letter.
- 2 oz Gin
- 1/2 oz Dry vermouth
- 1/4 oz Olive brine
Stir with ice until cold, then strain.
Coupe, olive.
Taste
Two ounces of gin, half an ounce of dry vermouth, a quarter ounce of brine from the olive jar. The brine is salt and a little vinegar, and it turns the drink savoury and slightly cloudy. Juniper first, then salt, then the vermouth. Stirred, coupe, an olive.
History
John O'Connor at the Waldorf-Astoria is credited with the first one in 1901, a Martini with olives muddled into it. Brine as a measured ingredient prints by 1930 in G. H. Steele's My New Cocktail Book. Franklin Roosevelt mixed his own at two parts gin to one of vermouth with a spoon of brine and an olive, and poured them for Churchill and Stalin. This menu pours two ounces of gin, half an ounce of dry vermouth, and a quarter ounce of brine, stirred, coupe, olive.
Same shape, other bottles
The Martini family, with the bottle that changed.
- Vodka Martinivodka for gin
- Corpse Reviver No. 1cognac, apple brandy, and sweet vermouth for gin and dry vermouth
- Fanciullibourbon and sweet vermouth for gin and dry vermouth
- Red Hookrye and sweet vermouth for gin and dry vermouth
- Yacht Clublight rum and sweet vermouth for gin and dry vermouth
- Bensonhurstrye for gin
This is one drink on my home bar's menu. Tick the bottles you own and the menu lists which of all 185 drinks they pour, or read the index of every drink.